The Northern Barrier of India: A Popular Account of the Jummoo and Kashmir Territories

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6>

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3l?arbarli CoUcgf itbrars

TREADWELL FUND

, K«ild>i:irv lcin"7 '">"' I>*MBt- TnB*DwiiLt.. Huiiifnrd

Pn.ruDlor .ind I^cliirFT on Iho Ai'jilu-Kliim ol
I Sck.„c« 10 llie Useful Art«. ■Sji-.Sis.

THE

NOKTHEKN BARRIEK OF INDIA,

r£^'

\

BY THE SAME AUTHOK.

Mi-dwm Rdo, clolk, 42).

THE JUMMOO AND KASHMIR TERRITORIES.

A GEOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT.
Ilhalraitd by Six Folding Coloured Mapt, nimiferma Plates, ^rrxf FuUUn'j

London: £DWASD STAITFORD.

K:

THE

NORTHERN BARRIER OF INDIA

A POPULAK ACCOUNT

OF THB

JUMMOO AND KASHMIR TERRITORIES.

BY

FREDERIC DREW,

AStOC. OF TRK ROTAL 9CROOL OF MIKKfl ; AaSIBTAKT MASTER OF BTON OOLLKOE ;
FOEMESLT OF THB MAHARAJA OF KASHMIK'S SERVICE.

WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS,

?»

LONDON:
EDWARD STANFORD, 55, CHARING CROSS, S.W.

1877.

L^iL 3i,H vnff.s'

PREFACE.

In the present volume, I have selected from my work
' The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories ' those parts which
are most likely to interest the general reader. To the
other book I would refer any who may wish for more
detailed information on such subjects as the physical con-
dition of the country, the distribution of languages and
faiths within it, its political organization, or the routes
that traverse it. All of these are there more fully
treated, and by the accompanying maps and sections
illustrated.

The map accompanying the present work shows par-
ticularly the distribution of Races ; but it will also be
found a sufficient topographical guide through the de-
•scriptions of the country.

For both the text and the map, I have adopted, in
spelling the native names, the new Indian system of
transliteration. In this the ten vowel sounds which
occur in the languages of Northern India are represented
by the five vowels of our alphabet, by an accentuation (to
denote elongation) of three of them, and by two diph-
thongs. The following table will make clear to anyone
who speaks English the exact native Indian pronunciation
of these vowels. In the middle column is an English

VI PREFACE,

word whose vowel-sound corresponds with that of the
character to the left of it ; while the third column shows
the same word as it would be spelt on the Indian system,
to retain its original sound.

Indian voweL

Ene^lsb word to
exemplify the
pnmundation.

Indian roelling of the
English word, the
sound remaining
the same.

n

bun

ban

&

palm

pAm

•

1

bin

bin

A

1

been

bin

u

pull

pul

ft

pool

pal

e

day

de

o

bowl

bol

ai

fine

fain

au

fowl

faul

As to the consonants, it need only be said that g
is always hard, y is to be pronounced as in the Eng-
lish word jam, and that ch has the power of ch in church,
I have made an exception to the above rules in the
name *Jummoo,' which must be pronounced in English
fashion.

F. D.

Eton College, December^ 1876.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE OUTBB HILLS.

Approach through India — Foot of the hills — City of Jummoo — Character
of the hills ~ Climate — Vegetation — Cnltivated crops . . Page 1

CHAPTER II.

INHABITANTS OF THE OUTER HILLS.

Race map — Classification of races — Distribution of faiths — The Dogrft
race — Brahmans — BdjpQts — Middle and lower castes — Lowest
castes and their origin — Inhabitants of Chibh4l — Mnhammadans and
R&jpiits — Villages and towns — Place of pilgrimage — Origin of the
name DogT& 18

CHAPTER III.

THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

Its csirly state — Ascendency of the Sikhs — Rise of Gul&b Singh — His
character — His acquisitions of territory — Cession of Kashmir — Tbe
present Maharaja — His daily court — Special Darb&rs — Presentation
of Nazars — Festival of Holi — The Nautch — A hunt — A royal
rnarriage 40

CHAPTER IV.

REGION OF THE MIDDLE MOUNTAINS.

Their extent and character — Climate — Limit of forest — March to
Bhadarw4h — Inhabitants — Chiu&b river — Kishtw&r — Padar —
Deodar forests — Bhutni 69

viii CONTENTti,

CHAPTER V.

THE MARCH TO KA8HMIB.

Native travellcrH — An Englishman's camp — AkhnOr — Timber catching

— Mughal Sar&es — R&j&ori — Punjal Pass — Approach to Sirinagar

Page 90

CHAPTER VI.

KASHMIR.

8izc of tho country — The natural druinago — The Karewas — Climate —
( vulmarg — Lulab — Sind valley — Sonamarg — Koute to Tibet 109

CHAPTER VII.

THE PEOPLE OF KASHMIR.

Their physique an<l character — Their cottage homes — A Kungri —
Tho Pandits — A Muhammadan pilgrimage — The boatmen — The
women 124

CHAPTER VIII.

SIRINAOAR AND ITS ENVIRONS.

Name of the city — The river front — Mosques and temples — Tho boats

— The l^lnglish quarter — The gardens by the lake 135

CHAPTER IX.

THE ROUTE TO GILGIT.

The mountain ranges — The ridge bounding Kashmir — The Kisbangang^
river — Gurcz — Nanga Parbat — Astor — The Indus — Bawunji 144

CHAPTER X.

GILGIT AND THE FRONTIER.

Village and fort of Giljrit — Productions of (lilgit — Puuial — Village
f»»rtH — The extreme boundary — Neighl>ouring states* 156

CONTENTS. IX

CHAPTEE XI.

THE dIbD people.

Dr. Leitner's work — Desoription of the D&rds — Caste subdivisions —
Peculiar customs — Muhammadanism among the Ddrds — Buddhist
Dftrds — Republics Page 167

CHAPTER XII.

GILOIT mSTOBT.

Dynastic changes — Gaur Bahmftn — Conquest by the Sikhs — Succession
of the DogrHs — Expulsion of the Dogr&s — Reconquest by the Dogras
— Attack on T&sin — Confederation of the tribes — Expedition to
Darel — Hayward's visit to Y&sin — Death of Hay ward 180

CHAPTER Xm

BALTISTAN.

Rondft — Basho — Katsttra — Sk&rdtt — Tibetan climate — Taking of
Sk&rdft — Shigar — Bftsha — Arandft glacier — Brilldft — K 2 —
Deosai plateau 200

CHAPTER XIV.

THB BALT! people.

Their origin — Their appearance — Balti emigrants — Muhammadan
sects 220

CHAPTER XV.

POLO IN BALTISTAN.

Antiquity of the game — Its revival in India — The play in Baltist&n —
The ponies — The stick — Comparison with the English game . . 226

CHAPTER XVI.

SKiBD^y TO LSH.

Valley of the Indus — Alluvial fans — Village oases — Garkon — Dah —
Buddhist D&rds — Khals! — The road from Kashmir — Khalsi to Leh
— Position of Leh 239

h

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEB XVII.

A

THE INHABITANTS OF LADAKH.

Turanian features — Character of the Ladftkhis — Their dress — The
Ch&mpfts — Khambas — Mode of living — Polyandry — Various customs

— Buddhist religion Page 251

CHAPTEB XVin.

DI8TBICT8 OF LAdAkH.

The mountain ranges — The Dras valley — Contrast with Kashmir —
Kargil — Z&nsk&r — Its climate — People of Z&nak&r — Their trade

— The road to Nubrft — Nubr& — Chara^a — Old glaciers — Lofty
peaks 275

CHAPTER XIX.

THE HIGH YALLBTS OF LADAKH.

Bupsliu — Its climate — Tents of the Ch&mp&s — Rarity of the air —
The Salt Lake valley — The Higher Indus valley — The wild ass —
Pangkong lake — Ch&ngchenmo 296

CHAPTEB XX.

THE PLATEAUS.

Barrenness of the ground — Mode of travelling — Lingzhithang plain —
Lokzhung mountains — Kuenlun plains — Euenlun mountains —
Animallifc — Ice-beds — Conclusion 316

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PACK

^A group of D&rds. ( Woodbury-type, from a photajrnph by Frith)

Frontispiece

Mosque of BMh Hamad&n, Sirtnagar xii

Dugrd Soldier. (^From a photograph) 23

Goddis. (^From a photograph) 78

Akhnftr Fort, on the Chin&b 94

Rough plan of the SarlLe at Said&b&d 101

View from near Gulmarg 117

Glacier near Son&marg 121

View approaching B&ltal 122

AK&ngrl 127

4Ca8hmlri Pandits. ( Woodbury-typey from a photograph by Frith)

to face page 128

'^Kashmiri Boatmen. ( Woodbury-typCj from a photograph by Frith)

to face page 131

The City of Sirinagar. {From a photograph by Frith) 137

Section across Tarshing Glacier 149

Gilgit Fort in 1870 159

Hayward's Grave 199

Dogrft Fort, Sk&rdft 208

K 2, 28,265 feet . . .. - 214

Polosticks 235

Lad&khicap 253

Figure of Chamba 270

Kigani 271

Granite mountains 281

Section through the Leb Range 289

High peaks east of Nubr& 294

Valley in the Lokzhung Range 323

'Map of India

* Map of the Territories, coloured to show the distribution of Races I . .
*Isometric View of the mountains between the Panj&b and
Kashmir

Moaqoi or eata hamadXk, uBtMAQAB.

THE

NOETHERN BARRIER OF INDIA.

CHAPTEE I.

THE OUTER HILLS.

I SHALL endeavour to picture to the reader the most
northerly portion of the large mountain mass whose base
skirts the flat and fertile plains of India, extending for
twelve hundred miles in one grand curve and forming the
northern boundary of our Eastern Empire. The northern-
most portion, that which lies immediately between India
and the nations who dwell in the heart of Asia, is occu-
pied by a kingdom of which we shall visit almost ever}'
comer, the kingdom ruled by the Maharaja of Jummoo and
Kashmir. Since the parts of the country governed by
that ruler have no other bond of cohesion than the fact
of his rule, no simple name for it exists ; while for short
it is sometimes called Kashmir, from the far-famed
country which lies in its midst, a fuller, though not
complete, designation is that which I have adopted,
namely, ** Jummoo and Kashmir Territories."

From the position of this kingdom at the extremity
of the great barrier which separates our warm and well-
peopled dominions from the bare and thinly-inhabited

B

2 THE OUTER HILLS,

plateaus of Tibet and Turkistan, its physical and other
characters derive an importance beyond that which it» size,
or population, or value measured in revenues, would other-
wise bear. Hence an account of it, such as ten years
of familiarity with the country and its people justifies me
in now attempting to give in this short and condensed
form, may have an interest both for those who, looking
to the wider questions of politics and of science, social
or physical, make India but one item in their consider-
ations ; and for those who, caring to know all details of
the country and people we directly or indirectly rule
in Asia, will wish for a more minute knowledge of the
many races who here dwell and of the homes which they
have made, on plain or mountain slope, in fertile valley
or in forest, or by pitching their narrow tents amid bare
and stony expanses, such as are to be found among the
varied and much-furrowed ridges of the great Him&layan
range.

It may be well to begin with a comparison of the size,
both of India generally and of this part which we shall
dwell on, with the countries of Europe, and for this purpose
we may refer to the map of India at the end of the work.
The space that is coloured represents all that is attached,
by one tie or another, to the British Crown ; of this the
north and south measure (from Cape Comorin to the
northernmost comer) is as far as from Gibraltar to Stock-
holm, while across India from west to east, from the
mouths of the Indus to those of the Ganges, is a distance
equal to that from London to the Black Sea shore. The
little map of England, drawn to the same scale, will
give an idea of its comparative area ; and it will be seen

M»v-«bBHb««*»*4«

APPROACH THROUQH INDIA. 3

that the Jummoo and Kashmir territories themselves
(coloured yellow on the map) are not less in extent than
England and Wales together ; they have in fact an area
of about 68,000 square miles.

Perhaps never is the traveller in India more strongly
impressed with the idea of its magnitude than in the
journey from Calcutta north-westwards. Here the route
is over the plain that separates the hills and table-land
of the Peninsula from the Himalaya ; a plain that, with a
width averaging fully a hundred and fifty miles, extends
ten times that distance in length. As one goes through
this — whether for days and nights in the railway train, or,
as formerly, for weeks in the dak-gari — ^its unbroken flat-
ness allows the great extent to impress itself on the mind,
while the change from the fuller vegetation of Bengal to
the clumps of trees scattered among continuous far-ex-
tending corn-fields in the North-West Provinces, and the
yet more open ground of the Panjab, induces a still better
appreciation of the magnitude of the Plains of India. The
Panjab itself is the widest expanse of this great plain,
though, from the comparative dryness of its climate, not
the richest.

The mountain ridges, though seldom sighted by the
traveller, had lain on his right hand all through the jour-
ney. Along the chief part of their course the land is held
by native princes of various degrees of power and of depen-
dence on the British Government. For more than 500
miles in length the Euler of Nipal holds a broad band
of mountains. The next section, which includes Kumaon
and Garhwal, is ruled directly by our government. Then
comes a collection of rajas, separately of small irapor-

4 THE OUTER HILLS,

tance, in that part of which Simla may be counted the
centre. This is followed by another district under British
rule, that of Kaugra, which is known afar for the fine
flavour of its tea and is admired by those who have visited
the spot for its scenery, combining the look of quiet
comfort with bold mountain views. Lastly, edging that
part of the Panjab which lies between the Bavi and
Jhelam rivers, lie the hills which we shall visit

The reader should now turn to the larger map, which
depicts, on a scale of 32 miles to an inch, the tract
marked out by a rectangle in the smaller one. On this
the colouring, of one tint or another, shows what is
included in the Maharaja of Kashmir's dominions, while
each separate tint denotes the tract occupied by one of the
many races he governs.

From L&bor, a city that was the old capital, and is at
this day the seat of our government, of the Panjab, a drive
of 60 miles, still on the unbroken flat, brings one to
Syalkot, the last British Station. Here are the civil
authorities of the Syalkot District and a brigade of troops
in cantonments. Six miles beyond Syalkot we cross the
frontier ; on entering the dominions of the Maharaja of
Kashmir, no immediate physical change is seen ; for the
last portion of the great plain makes part of the Maharaja's
territories. We are still on tlie wonderful wide plain of
India, where the eye tires in contemplating the unvaried
level. As in the Panjab, the trees here also are small and
scant of foliage, either scattered singly or grouped round
wells ; here also the villages are clumps of low, flat-roofed,
mud huts, not inviting in look, yet commodious for the
people, with their kind of life. The soil, either clay or

THEIR EXTENT. 5

loatn, at certain times looks sterile and at others is
covered with verdure. Dull enough is the aspect of this
plain when the crops are off, and the ground is a bare
caked surface of dried mud, when the hot- weather haze,
hiding the distant view, makes the dusty ground shade
off into a dusty air. But at other times of the year — as
in March, when spring is well advanced, when the trees
are in bloom, and the wheat over large undivided spaces
is coming into ear — the prospect is bright and agreeable.
At such a season the air is clear, and one sights the snow
mountains from afar. As we approach, darker ranges of
less lofty hills come more strongly into view; getting
nearer still, we see that a succession of comparatively low
ridges, some rugged and broken by ravines, some regular
and forest-covered, intervene between the plain and the
high mountains.

These constitute a tract to which I give the name of
" Outer Hills." They edge the Himalaya with great uni-
formity of character along its whole course. In these
territories they extend for 150 miles, from the river Ravi
on the east to the Jhelam on the west. Going inwards one
has to pass over a width of them varying from fourteen to
thirty-six miles before coming to the next higher class of
mountains. Now among these Outer Hills live the men of
the race called Dogra, who, headed by the Maharaja, him-
self a Dogra, rule all the territories; here also is the
capital, Jummoo. As well for these reasons as for the sake
of beginning with the skirts of the mountain mass, the
first chapters will be devoted to an account of the Outer
Hills, of their inhabitants, and of the Court of Jummoo.

(> THE OUTER HILLS.

The last portion of tlie plain before coming to the hills

has here none of that luxuriant and swampy forest called

Terai, which edges the Eastern Himalayas; there axe

but patches of wood, of the trees characteristic of the

dry Panjab climate, in great part of a fine-leaved acacia.

The plain, which is 1000 feet above the sea (having

attained that level by an imperceptible slope from Calcutta

upwards), is at this part cut into by gullies which lead

down from the hills ; these are what in India are called

nullahs {ndld) ; most of them are dry for the greater

part of the year, but in the rainy season they will often

be filled by what for the time is a wide and swift

river, discoloured by red mud washed from the hills

above. One or two of the wider valleys thus made, as

well as some tracts of the higher plain, are covered with a

long tufty jungle -grass, among which black -buck or

antelope abound. These animals, encouraged by the

game laws of the country, which preserve the pursuit

of them for the ruler, spread into the cultivated parts and

even herd with the cattle.

The hills begin along a line that can be traced on the
map by the words " Daman-i-Kph, or Foot of the Hills."
Ddman-i'Koh is the Persian phrase, which means literally
" Skirt of the Mountain." The outermost ridge of all is
one that for seventy miles bears one character. It rises
from the flat with a regular and gentle slope which
continues till a height of some two thousand feet above
the sea is reached ; this slope is indented with many
drainage valleys, not cut steep, but making undulations
of the ground transverse to the run of the ridge. The
surface of the hills is very stony ; rounded pebbles cover

FTUST BISE FROM THE PLAIN. 7

nearly the whole of it, for the strata beneath are com-
posed partly of pebble-beds. Still it bears vegetation ;
the hills are indeed clothed with forest ; it is a close
forest of trees twenty and thirty feet in height, mostly of
two species of acacia and of ZizyphuB jujvha,^ with an
underwood of brenkar, a shrub which grows to the height
of three or four feet, and has a white flower that gives
out a sickly smell. Thus clothed the slope continues up
to a crest, beyond which there is a sudden fall along the
whole line of it, an escarpment formed of sandstone cliffs
of some hundreds of feet of vertical height. Within, for
many miles, is a broken hilly tract.

On the outermost ridge, at the very first rise of the
hills out of the 'plain, the city or town of Jummoo is
built, on a slightly sloping plateau two or three hundred
feet above the flat country and some 1200 feet above
the sea. The ridge is here cut through by the valley
of the Tavi River, which flows out to the plains at a level
more than 200 feet below the town, between steep but
wooded banks.

Coming from the Panjab, one passes, while still on the
plain, through two or three miles of the close forest of
acacia-trees with bushy underwood ; then one comes to
the river-bed, an expanse of rounded pebbles, with the
stream flowing in the middle — a stream usually shallow
and gentle, but which is sometimes so swollen with floods
as to rush with violence over the whole wide bed, at
which times it is impassable. As one fords this Tavi

* The native names of the acacias are PhxUdi {A. modesta)^ and Kikar
{^A. Arabica) ; the latter is called Bjbul in HiDdost&n. The native name
of the Zizyphos jujuba is Ber,

8 THE OUTER HILLS,

Eiver, one sees how, in coming from the upper country,
it breaks through, so to say, the outeimost range ; on its
right bank the hill on which Jummoo is built, and on its
left a corresponding one, crowned by Bao Fort, form, as
it were, a gateway to the inner country.

To reach the town after crossing the stream, we have
again to pass through the wood, along a narrow lane, at a
turn of which we find ourselves in front of the principal
gate, placed at the top of a short but steep ascent. At
this spot travelling on wheels comes to an end ; from
here onwards carriage is performed by camels, pack-
horses, elephants, or coolis. The bullock-carts that up to
this point have been the great means of goods traffic are
left here, and their contents are brought into the city
mostly on men's backs.

After passing the entrance-gate, in doing which we come
on to the plateau, we advance on more level ground, along
a wide street or bazaar which gives the promise of a
comfortably-built town ; but a little farther, and one
suddenly becomes lost in a maze of narrow streets and
lanes of low single-storied houses and little narrow shops.
But the way is crowded, and business is brisk, and most of
the people have a well-to-do look. A mile or so of this, on
a gradual rise, brings us to the centre of interest of the
place — an open, irregular square, called the Mandi, or
Public Place. This is the spot where all the business of
the Government is done ; it is a space entirely surrounded
by Government buildings. On three sides are public
offices, built with considerable taste ; their lower stories
have a line of arches that suit the native practice of doing
business half out of doors. The farther side of the square

POSITION OFJUMMOO. 9

has a nearly similar building, where the Maharaja holds
bis ordinary daily Darbar or Court ; behind this is seen
the more lofty pile of the inner palace.

The town, of which the area is about a square mile, and
the population 40,000, is bounded on two sides by the
cliff or steep slope that OTerbangs the river-bed. Some of
the buildings of the Maharaja's Palace are placed at the
very edge of the most precipitous part, and they command
a view over the flat valley of the river, where it widens
above the gorge, over alluvial islands covered with
gardens and groves, on to inner lines of hill with a
surface of broken cliff and scattered forest, and to higher
mountains beyond, which are often snow-covered. The
steep slopes close at hand, and those of the opposite hill,
are clothed with the same forest that covers the plain
through which the town was approached ; it gives shelter
to a good deal of game, chiefly pig, spotted deer, and
nllgae, which, from the strictness of the game laws, are
found up to the skirts of the city.

With the exception of the palace and the public
buildings sunounding the square, there is not much that
is architecturally attractive. Nearly all the city, as
before said, is of single-storied houses, which one quite
overtops in going through the streets on an elephant.
Bat there rise up among them a few large houses,
maoaions so to say, which have been built by some
of the Court people, or of the richer merchants of the
place; the house of the family of the chief ministeis,
Diwao Jawala Sahai, and his son Btwan £irpa Bam,
especially, is a large pile of buildings. Then at one
edge of the town, in a picturesque position overlooking

10 THE OUTER HILLS.

the river valley, are a few houses built after the fashion
of those that Englishmen live in in India; these the
Maharaja has erected for the accommodation of European
traveller-?, whether stray visitors or guests of his own, who
now and then reach Jummoo. Hindu temples also rise
among the dwellings ; their convex-curved spires are con-
spicuous objects ; the principal one, in the lower part of
the town, is a plain but fine, well-proportioned building ;
and in the same quadrangle with it is a smaller, gilt-
domed temple, built in memory of Maharaja Gulab Singh.
New temples arise ; of late years several have been built ;
one of these has been erected by the chief minister ; as
one approaches Jummoo through the plain, its tall spire
and gilt pinnacle catch the eye from a distance.

Jummoo, though it is a good deal resorted to for trade
and other business, is not usually liked by natives as a
place to live in. The comfort of a native of India depends
very much on the accessibility of good water, and here
one is obliged either to use the water of the tanks, not
really fit for drinking, or to fetch the river water from
below. The position of the town, on a stony hill and en-
closed by forest, prevents any pleasant way of egress from
it. But a redeeming point is the beauty of the prospect.
We have seen how, from the edge of the cliff, a wide view
opens of the nearer ridges of the Himalayas, with peeps of
the more lofty mountains behind. From other points we
can look south and west over the plain of the Panjab, and
from our elevation can command a great and beautiful
expanse of it. Near at hand are rounded masses of the
green foliage of the forest ; beyond is more open ground,
with villages scattered, and the waters of the Tavi, in its

j» ■■iiliii^lrfU^^iafcJlNriJPt^^

ROCKS, JUDGES, AND RAVINES. H

various channels, shining between ; in the distance the
hues change to grey and purple, but the land ends off
with the sharp line made by the earth's curvature, distinct
as the horizon at sea.

Let us now turn again towards the mountains. I have
said that within the outermost ridge there is an irregular,
broken, hilly country ; it is a country of ridges and
sloping plateaus, cut through by narrow steep ravines,
carved out of a sandstone rock. It is easy here to lose
one's way and to find one's self separated by some in-
accessible cliff or impracticable ravine from one's goal. To
these rocks a noted prison-breaker once escaped, and,
aided by an intimate knowledge of the ground, for long
weeks kept clear of a whole regiment that was sent to
capture him.

A great part of the surface of these hills is of the bare
grey sandstone rock uncovered by soil, but in some places
grass and bushes have got a footing upon it, and here and
there is cultivated space enough to support a family or
two, or a little hamlet, but of necessity it is a tract very
thinly peopled as well as difficult of access ; the paths from
hamlet to hamlet are but tracks marked by the passage
of feet over the sandstone, or sometimes down steps cut
into it ; from the inaccessibility of the cliffs, and the
steepness of the ravines, the ways are tediously round-
about, and they are tiresome from the frequent rise and
fall.

This irregular combination of ridges continues, as one
goes on, to a distance of ten or twelve miles from the
outer skirt of the hills ; then we come to a wide longitu-
dinal valley, such as is called in the more eastern Hima-

12 THE OUTER HILLS.

laya.s a dun. This varies in width from one to four
miles; it is itself cut through by ravines; close by
Dansal a branch of the Tavi flows along in a steep-
cliffed ravine at a level some two hundred feet below
the flat of the main valley ; the Tavi River itself flows
in a similar ravine, and at that low level winds across
the dun.

The next range we come to goes by the name of Karat
Thar, the latter word of which is the equivalent of" ridge/*
It has a steep face, an escarpment, to the south-west ; near
Dansal, its height is 3000 or 3500 feet ; eastwards it rises
to 5000 feet, and then curves round and joins on to the
higher mountains. This range, too, is traversed by the
Tavi in a gorge, one so narrow and inaccessible that one
of the main roads to Kashmir, that comes through this
country, is imable to follow the river valley and has to
cross the Karai Thar ridge by a very steep ascent.

Another ddn succeeds, that in which the town of Udam-
pur stands, a space some sixteen miles long and five miles
wide, which may be described either as a flat much cut
down into wide hollows or as a low vale with wide flat-
topped hills jutting into it from the mountains. Beyond
that comes the higher land which as yet we do not
visit.

Eastwards to Basoli, and north-westwards to beyond
Kotli, extends such broken ground as has been described,
varying indeed often, but still with a certain character
which justifies one in bringing the whole under one head-
ing. Only as we approach where the Jhelam River
passes through this tract — from the latitude of Punch
downwards — we find yet more sudden falls of the streams

WESTERN PORTION. 13

and steeper slopes of the hills ; this river flows often
between steep rocky banks several hundred feet high ;
anon it reaches a spot where a ravine coming down makes
ita margin accessible ; again for a time more gradual
slopes, or smaller cliffs that edge some plateau, form its
banks ; still again it comes between' high cliffs, and in
deep curves finds its way round lofty promontories, snch
nearly isolated spots being often fort-crowned; then, at
last, some miles above the town of Jhelam, it debouches
into the plain, where it is bounded by low banks and
finds room to spread and divide, to form islands with its
ever-varying channels, and otherwise disport Itself as a
river delights to that has escaped from the mountains
that restrained it.

Before proceeding to tell of the people that inhabit
this rugged tract, I shall say something of the two
things which have so much to do in fitting or unfitting a
country to be a dwelling place for man — its vegetation
and climate.

Though as far north as 33° of latitude, and elevated on
an average perhaps two thousand feet above the sea, yet
these hills differ not greatly in climate from the northern
part of British India. As in the plains, the year may be
divided into three seasons ; here they are thus distri-
buted ; — the hot weather, from April to June ; the rains,
from July to September;* the cold weather, from October
to March. Taking the more inhabited portions of the

* The leader mocrt not think that the time of the ntina is odb of oool-
nsM ; tnie the tempeistiire u Bome degrees less than during the " hot
weather," but a hot moUt air tliat mak^ everjthiog damp rendera tlis
naaj month* mote trj'vag to the coDBtitntion of both Europeans and
natifas tbui kdj other time.

14 ' THE OUTER HILLS.

tract, of which the altitude may be from twelve hnudred
to two thousand feet, we find that in May and June they
ezpeneace a eerere heat ; the rocky surface of the ground
becomes intensely heated, and gives rise to hot wind^
which blow sometimes with regularity, sometimes in gosta.
At night the temperature fells to a greater extent than it
does at the same season in the plain of the Fanjab ; for
the rocky surface loses its heat again, and the irregu-
larities of foim produce currents which tend to mix the
heated air with the cooler upper strata.

The rains, beginning first among the higher monntaina,
spread down to the outer ranges in the l&tter half of
June, and, though often breaking off, seldom cease for the
season without affording moisture enough for the briog-
ing on of the summer crops.

The rains ending with September, the country is left
dry for a time; its uneven form prevents the soil from
retaining much moisture; by the drying of the country,
and the decline of the sun's power, the cold weather is
introduced. This is a deliglitful season — a pleasant
bright sun and a cool bracing air make it refreshing and
invigorating after the dry heat of the first part of summer
and the warm moisture of the latter months. This bright
cold weather is, however, varied by rainy days, which
bring rather a raw cold of a degree that makes a small
fire in a house necessary to comfort; showers may be
expected about the 20th of December, or between that
date and Christmas-time ; and on the higher ridges, at
three and four thousand feet, snow falls, melting almost as
soon as it falls. It is this winter rain tihat enables the
peasant to proceed with the sowings for the spring crop,

CLIMATE AND VEGETATION. 15

and on the occaeioual recurrence of such showers during
the next three months he depends for that harvest which
the increasing warmth of the months of March and
April is sure to bring on well if the rain has been feirly
plentifuL

The only part of the year at all unhealthy is the latter
half of the rains ; the natives date the beginning of it
from the dowering of the rice ; it may be said to extend
through part of August, September, and part of October ;
during that time intermittent fever much prevails. The
type of fever is somewhat worse than that which prevails
at the same season in the Panjab ; it is more of a jungle-
fever, less regular in its times, and less easy to get rid of.
In some years fever is exceedingly prevalent over the
whole of this tract. 1 have heard that Kanj!t Singh's
father once took advantage of the inhabitants of the lower
ranges being stricken down with it to make a raid on
Jommoo.

The vegetation of the Outer Hills, governed by the
character of the soil and the circumstances of climate, is
for the most part of the dry tropical character, the heat
being enough to snstain many plants that flourish within
the tropics, while the moisture is insufficient to enable
them to grow with great luxuriance, and the cold weather
of winter tends also to check them.

The very outermost ridge, as before said, is covered
with a more or less dense forest of small-leaved acacias
{A. Araiica and A. modesia), with some of the Ber tree
intermingled, and an undergrowth of the shrub Brenhar,
This forest, which on the hills occupies a dry pebbly
soil, sometimes spreads down on to the loamy ground of

16 THE OUTER HtLLS.

the plains ; probably in former times it grew over a large
area of the plain and has since been gradually cleared ;
the greatest space of flat ground now occupied by it is
close below Jummoo, the forest having there been pre-
served by commands

Farther within the hills there is not such a growth
as to make a forest; it is rather a straggling bushy
scrub, partly of the same trees in a shrubby form, with
Euphorbia {E, Boyleana, or pentaffona), which grows to a
large size, and occasionally mango, pipal, banyan, bamboo,
and palm (Phosnix sylvestris). The streams that flow in
the narrow ravines among the sandstone hills have their
edges adorned with oleander bushes.

The long-leaved pine {Pinus longifolia, whose native
names are chU and chir)^ a tree whose needle-foliage is
of a light bright green colour, is usually first found, as
one goes inwards, on the north slope of the outermost
ridge. I have found it there at the level of 1400 feet,
but only in a stunted form ; on the broken plateau
and dry hill-sides of 2000 feet elevation one sees fair-
sized trees of it scattered about ; at three and four thou*
sand feet, in favourable spots, one finds whole woods
of it, but even these are not so thick and close as the
forests of Pinu8 excelm, which cover the higher hills.
The highest range of Pinus longifolia seems to be 5500
feet, or it may be a little more.

Of cultivated plants we have in these lower hills nearly
the same kinds as in the Panjab, and over the whole area
the same succession of two crops in a year. The winter
crop, chiefly wheat and barley, is sown in December
(sometimes earlier, and sometimes even later) and ripens

CULTIVATION, 17

in April ; the summer crop, of maize, millet, and rice, is
sown in June and ripens in September or October. At
one or two places (as at SyalsM, near Kajaori) rice is
raised by rain-moisture alone, but most generally it
depends on irrigation. Plantain and sugar-cane, though
not largely cultivated, grow fairly well, and they have
even been introduced into Punch, which is 3300 feet
above the sea.

In the hilliest tracts cultivation can be carried on only
in small patches of ground. Thus isolated cottages or
small hamlets are frequent. The flats of the Duns allow
a wider space for tillage, and in them the larger villages
and the few small towns are to be found. But the culti-
vated portion is small as compared with the whole ; scrub,
forest, and bare rock predominate.

18 INHABITANTS OF THE OUTER HILLS.

CHAPTER n.

INHABITANTS OP THE OUTER HILLS.

Of the various races and subdivisions of races which
inhabit the whole territories, the eight most important
have their geographical distribution shown by the colours
on the race map, and about these eight and their locali-
sation I wish to say a few words before beginning a
description of those of them which inhabit the tract
described in the last chapter.

A considerable portion of the map is covered by the
tint which denotes uninhabited country. This includes
the loftiest mountain ranges — their inaccessible rocky
peaks and their fields of perpetual snow — as well as three
or four expanses of level ground at such an elevation as
to be quite barren and uninhabitable.

The coloured spaces let into the grey denote the
occupation of the valleys by the different tribes with whom
we are to become acquainted ; the less broken expanses
of colour to the soutli-west show that there the people are
able to occupy all the area ; the narrow summit-line of
one mountain ridge alone might have been counted as
unfrequented ground.

The list of races underneath the title of the map may

CLASSIFICATION OF RACES. 19

here be repeated, with a classification that will give tlie
reader some additional information.

Abyan.

i ChihhdVt. {
Kashmiri I
Ddrd. \ Muhammadan.

Tibetan.

{Baltl ]
Laddkhi. )
Chdmpd, )

Baddhist.

From this table it will be seen that five of the eight
races belong to one great subdivision of mankind, the
Aryan, and the remaining three races to another, the
Tibetan. The division according to faiths does not
correspond to this ethnological partition; two of the
Aryan races are Hindu, the remaining three of the Aryan
and one of the Tibetan are Muhammadan; two of the
Tibetan are Buddhist. This is true on the whole, but some
exceptions must be allowed.

The ethnographical information conveyed by the map
I collected in my journeys by noting, village by village,
the characteristics of the inhabitants. As a rule the dis-
tinction of race is marked enough ; not unfrequently the
separation is made by some natural boundary, as where
the Panjal mountains separate the Kashmiri from their
neighbours; but in other places the races are more inter-
mixed, colonies of one being found in the villages or
towns of another ; still these are recognizable, since they
almost always associate in their own communities ; I have
denoted such colonies by square patches of colour,
adopting that form to show that it is a conventional

20 INHABITANTS OF THE OUTER HILLS.

representation of the presence of the race at that spot, not
of the area occupied by it.

With respect to the division by reb'gions, one important
fact is here illustrated. From near the Nun Kun moun-
tains, and from no other spot in Asia, one may go west-
ward through countries entirely Muhammadan, as far as
Constantinople ; eastward among none but Buddhists^ to
China ; and southward over lands where the Hindii religion
prevails, to the extremity of the Indian peninsula. For
from these great mountains one might descend on the
Tibetan side and thread one's way through the valleys
marked in red, among signs of the Buddhist faith — by the
door of many a Buddhist monastery — to the Chimese terri-
tory ; and every commimity passed, to the capital itself of
China, would be Buddhist. On descending another slope
of the mountain to the tracts occupied by Paharis and
Dogras, we should find ourselves at once among Hindds,
in a country where shrines and temples dedicated to the
Hindd gods abound, and thence we could pass at once to
the Hindii portion of the Panjab and on to the heart of
Hindostan. In a third direction, due west, one would go
through Muhammadan Kashmir, adorned by mosques
and the tombs of holy Muhammadans, and on through a
rough district of mountaineers, the Chibhalis, to the
country of the Afghans, to Persia and to Turkey, all
among nations of that same faith.

Eetuming now to the Outer Hill Eegion, we have first
to speak of the Bogra race, the one which, as before said,
is the ruling race of all the territories.

Of the Aryans, who swept into India and colonized it
till they became at last its main population, among whom

THE DOQRAS. 21

the Brahminical or Kindt religion grew up, a branch
settled in the hills that edge the Panjab ; to those who
settled in the lowei hills and went not into regioos where
snow falb, the name Dogra belongs, and the country they
inhabit goes by tlie name of Ddgar.

The Uogras are divided into castes in nearly the same
way as are the Hindns of India generally; those are
partly the remnant of race-distiiictions, and partly the
ontcome of occupations become hereditary. Thfe following
list gives the names of some of the castes in the order of
their estimation among themselves : —

Brabmaa.

■"^ ■ \Workiug aajpflta.

Kluitri.
ThakM.
Jat.

iBaajl and Kr&r (amaJl flhopkeepers),
NM (barbew).
JiOt (carriera).

Dbijftl, Hegh, aad Dam.

The Brahmans make of course the highest caste ; to
them, here as in other parts of India, is traditiooally due
from all other HindAs a spiritual subjection, and to those
of them who are learned in the holy books it is actually
given. In these later times, that is, for the last ten
centuries and more, Brahmans have taken to other occu-
pations besides that of continual devotion. We find
them in the Outer Hills numerous as cultivators ; and in
one part they form the majority of the inhabitants. In
physique the Brahmans do not much differ from the next
caste, who are to be spoken of with more minuteness.

22 INHABITANTS OF TEE OUTER HILLS,

The Brahmans are considered by the others to be in
character deep, clever to scheme, and close in concealing.

The Bdjput is the caste next in standing. Bajputs are
liere in considerable number ; they hold and have held for
many centuries the temporal power ; that is to say, the
rulers of the country are of them.

The Dogra Rajputs are not large men ; they are dis-
tinctly less in size than Englishmen ; I should take their
average height to be five feet four inches or five feet
five inches, and even exceptionally they are seldom tall.
They are slim in make, have somewhat high shoulders,
and legs not well formed but curiously bowed, with turn-
in toes. They have not great muscular power, but they
are active and untiring.

Their complexion is of a comparatively light shade of
brown, rather darker than the almond-husk, which may
be taken to represent the colour of the women, who, being
less exposed, have acquired the lighter tint, which is
counted as the very complexion of beauty ; the hue
indeed is not unpleasing, but it is generally deep enough
to mask any ruddy changing colour of the fac^. The men
have an intelligent face, the character of which is repre-
sented in the accompanying woodcut; they have small
features, generally well formed, a slightly hooked nose,
a well-shaped mouth, dark-brown eyes. The hair and
beard are jet black ; the hair is cut to form a curly fringe
below the pagn or turban; the mustache is usually
turned up eyewards. Thus the Dogra, and especially the
Kajput, is often decidedly good-looking.

In character the Rajputs are simple and child-like ; but
this is not true of those who have come much into contact

DOOBA RAJPUTS. 23

with the Jummoo Court, If taken in the right way they
are tractable, else they resent interference, and usually, if
once committed to a certain line of conduct, they are
obstinate enough in it They stick closely to the pre-
judices they were brought up in, and are very particular
to observe their caste regulations; these characteristics
1 both to the Brahmana and Eajpnts.

In money matters many of the Bajputs, and, indeed, the
Dogras generally, are avaricious, and all are close-fisted,
not having the heart to spend, even on themselves. This
character is rccc^nized as helonging to these hill people
by the Panjabis, who in their turn do not spend with half
the freedom of the people of Hindostan proper and the
coontry below.

The BajpAts, particularly that class of them called
Mians, who will be distinguished farther on, have a great
DotioQ of the superiority of their own caste, eogendered
by their having been for so long the ruling class in these

24 INHABITANTS OF THE OUTER BILLS.

hiUfi. Individual conceit is common with them as well as
this pride. It is frequently remarked that when a Mian
gets up in the world a bit he holds his head high and
thinks himself ever so far above bis former equals. They
are indeed apt to be spoiled by advancement, and to some
extent the AO&n Bajpflts have already been so spoiled.
This is by their rule having become extended over such a
width, and so many races having come under it. Maha-
raja Gulab Singh, the founder of the kingdom in its
modem extent, was of this caste, and the extension of his
power led to the advancement of his caste-brethren, who
were and are in great part the instruments of the acqui-
sition and of the government of the dependencies of
Jummoo.

Judged of in this capacity — that of agents and instru-
ments of government — we must allow to the Dogras con-
siderable failiugs. They have little tact ; they have not
the art of conciliating the governed, of treating them in
such a way as to attach them. Those who are high in
authority have not width enough of view to see that the
interests of both governors and governed may be in a
great measure coincident. As a rule, they are not liked
by the dependent nations even to that degree in which,
with moderately good management, a ruling race may
fairly hope to he liked by its alien subjects.

Still we must admit that the Dogras show, by their
holding such a wide and difficult territory as they do,
some good qualities. Seeing how, in far-away countries,
often in a cold climate thoroughly unsuited to them,
sometimes in small bands surrounded by a population
that looks on them with no friendly eye, they hold their

RAJ P (it CUSTOMS. . 25

own and support the rule of the Maharaja, we must credit
them with much patience and some courage. Some
power, too, they have of physical endurance; they can
endure hunger and heat, and exertion as far as light
marching on long journeys is concerned ; but heavy
labour or extreme cold will knock them up. Faithfulness
to the roaster they serve is another of their virtues.

All over Northern India the Eajput is traditionally the
ruling and fighting caste, that from which both the kings
and warriors were in old times taken. In these hills
where social changes come slower than in the plains, this
still holds. The rulers ever have been and are Rajpiits,
and great numbers of people of that caste find a place
either about the Court or in the army. It was, possibly,
at one time the custom throughout India for people of
the Rajput caste to follow no other occupation than
service such as this. Here, at all events, a considerable
section of the Rajputs hold aloof from every other mode
of getting a living. But some have at different times
fallen off* from the old rule of Jife and taken to other
ways. By this circumstance the Eajpiits of these hills
are divided into two classes ; the men of the first class are
called Midns, while those of the second we will, in default
of a general name, speak of as Working RajpAts.

The Mians follow no trade, nor will they turn their
hands to agriculture. For a Mian to put his hand to the
plough would be a disgrace. Most of them have a bit
of land, either free or nearly free of land-tax, which they
get others to cultivate on terms of a division of the pro-
duce. Their dwellings are generally isolated, either at
the edge of or within the forest or waste ; they are so

26 INHABITANTS OF TEE OUTER HILLS.

placed for the sake of hunting, which is their natural and
favourite pursuit.

But their profession, that to which they fidl look for a
livelihood, is, as they say, " service " ; by this they mean
the service of their chief or of some other ruler, either
military service, or for attendance not involving menial
work or anything that can be called labour. They make
good soldiers; they are faithful to the master who em-
ploys them, and they have a tendency to be brave. The
sword is their favourite weapon, and they are handy in
the use of it, while those of them who have had the
practice of sport are good shots with a matchlock.

The Dogra contingent of the Sikh army, which must
have been composed in great part of these Rajputs, did
well in Ranjit Singh s time, and I doubt not that the
same class, if properly led, would do good service again.
But it is in the art of leading that the Slians fail ; they
seldom have those qualities which are necessary for the
making of a good superior oflBcer. Warmth of temper,
quickness of action, and absence of tact, rather than
steadfastness and power of combination and of conciliation,
are their characteristics.

The Working Bdjputs are those whose families have,
at various periods, taken to agriculture, and so have be-
come separated from their former fellow class-men, and
come down one step of caste. They are no longer ad-
mitted to an equality with the Mians, though still held
by them in some respect. As agriculturists they do not
succeed so well as the elder cultivating castes. Many of
the Working Eajputs follow arms as a profession, and are

THE MIDDLE CASTES. 27

to be found side by side with the more exclusively military
Mians.

After the Brahmans and Eajpiits, come the Khairis,
The Khatris, both in these hills and in the Panjab, are
the higher class of traders, and also commonly the mun-
sbis, or writers. They are generally less good-looking
than the BajputSy and are less inured to physical exertion,
but they are much keener, and are men of better judg-
ment and greater power of mind. From their being thus
better fitted for responsible posts, and from their wielding,
the power of the pen, which, in the quietness of times
that has come upon this country, is a more important
instrument than the sword that formerly prevailed over
the other, they have come to supplant, to some extent,
the Kajputs or Mians in place and power.

Next come the Thakars, who are the chief cultivating
caste in the hills. I do not know with what class in the
plains of India one shoidd correlate them. In occupation
they correspond with the Jats in the Panjstb (of whom
there are a few in the hills also), but the two are not
related ; the Thakars are counted higher in rank. Their
name of Thakar is undoubtedly the same word that in
lower India is used for the Eajpiits, though it has the first
a short instead of long. They are a well-looking and
well-made race of men, a good deal like the Kajputs, but
of larger frame ; they are more powerful in body but less
quick in motion, and they have not an equal reputation
for courage.

Next below in estimation come some castes whom I have
bracketed together ; their occupations are various, but in

28 INHABITANTS OF THE OUTER HILLS.

rank they are nearly equal These are Banya, Krdr, Naty
and Jiur, with some others. They include the lower class
of traders of different kinds, shopkeepers for the most part
small and pettifogging; they include the barbers and
others whose business it is to minister to the wants of
those above them, especially the carriers, called kahdrs in
the plains, but here called jiurs, whose occupations are
the carriage of loads on the shoulder, including the
palanquin, and the management of the flour-mills worked
by water.

Last come those whom we Englishmen generally call
** low-caste Hindus," but who in the mouth of a HindA
would never bear that name ; they are not recognized as
Hindus at all; they are not even allowed a low place
among them, and they are only Dogras in the sense of
being inhabitants of Dugar. The names of these castes
are Megh and Bum, and to these must, I think, be added
one called Dhiydr, whose occupation is iron-smelting, and
who* seem to be classed generally with those others.
These tribes are the descendants of the earlier, the pre-
Aryan, inhabitants of the hills, who became, on the
occupation of the country by the Hindus or the Aryans,
enslaved to them ; they were not necessarily slaves to one
person, but were kept to do the low and dirty work for
the community. And that is still their position; they
are the scavengers of the towns and villages. Of DAms
and Meghs there is a large number at Jummoo, and they
are scattered also over all the country, both of the Outer
Hills and the next higher mountains. They get a scanty
living by such employments as brickmaking and charcoal-
burning, and by sweeping. They are liable to be called

THE LOWEST CASTES. 29

on at any time by the authorities for work that no others
will put their hand to.

A result of this class of labour being done only by them
is that they are reckoned utterly unclean ; anything they
touch is polluted; no Hindu would dream of drinking
water from a vessel they had carried even if they had
brought it suspended at the end of a pole ; they are
never allowed to come on to the carpet on which others
are sitting; if by some chance they have to deliver a
paper, the Hindu makes them throw it on the ground, and
from there he will himself pick it up : he will not take it
from their hands.

The Meghs and Dums have physical characters that
distinguish them from the other castes. They are com-
monly darker in colour ; while the others of these parts
have a moderately light-brown complexion, these people
are apt to be as dark as the natives of India below Delhi.
They are usually, I think, small in limb and rather short
in stature ; in face they are less bearded than the other
castes, and their countenance is of a much lower type than
that of the Dogras generally, though one sees exceptions,
due no doubt to an admixture of blood.

The Maharaja has done something to improve the
position of these low castes by engaging some hundreds
as sepoys, for the work of sapping and mining. These
have acquired some consideration, indeed they have
behaved themselves in time of war so as to gain respect,
having shown themselves in courage to be equal with the
higher castes, and in endurance to surpass %them.

Thus we see that the great majority of the people of
Dugar are Hindis, with the remnants of the old inhabi-

30 INBABITANTS OF THE OUTER BILLS.

tants among them, who cannot be said to be of any faith.
Here and there, but especially in the towns, are Muham-
madans, following Tarious trades and occupations; some
of these were Hindila of the country who have been
converted to Muhammadanism ; others have come from
various places and settled in it.

The western part of the Outer Hills is inhabited by a
Mahammadan race ; they are called Chibhdli from the
name of their country, Chibhai, which is the region lying
between the Chinib and Jhelam rivers. The Chibbalts
seem to be for the most part Muhammadaniaed Dogr^

Several tribes of these Muhammadans have the same
name as certain of the castes in Dugar. Thus some of
the subdivisions of the Hindfi Eajpflte, as Chib, Jaral,
Pal, &c., exist also among the Muhammadans ; and the
more general designation of Mussalman Bajpdt is com-
monly enough used.

Besides Rajputs, there are many Mnhammadanised Jats
in Chibhal ; though the Jat is the prevalent cultivating
caste in the Panjab, it occurs but rarely in Dngar. In the
eastern part of Chibhal are Huhammadan Thakars. In
the western there are many races, whose origin it is not
easy to discover. An important and high caste is one
called Sudan ; it prevails in the part between Pilnch and
the Jhelam ; it has a position among these Muhammadans
nearly like that of the Mians among the pogras. A
general name for this and the other high castes of
Chibhal is Sdhu.

Lower down the Jhelam River, there is a caste or tribe
called Gakkar9. They were people who for long sub-
tained their independence in the hills, even against

MUBAMMADASISED DOQSAS. 31

powerful enemies. They are most numerous, perhaps,
on the right bank of the river, in the British territory,
where are renmiiis of buildinge — palaces and forts — of
the time when they had their own Raja ; the fort called
Bamkut, ou the left hank, was, I was told, built by one
Togia, a Oakkar.

The Chibh^is, on the whole, resemble the Dogras,
although the Muhammadan way of cutting the mustache
(that is of cutting or shaving a portion in the middle)
makes a difference that strikes one at first. The Chib-
halis are, I think, stronger, more muscular, than the
others, and are quite equally active.

Croing back to the eastern part of Chibhal, we are of
course on the boundary-line of Mnhammadaos and
Hindus. A hundred years ago, probably, the former
were encroaching, and the boundary was gradually
coming eastward; but now, certainly, no such advance
is being made. The Muhammadans on the border were
not, and are not, very strong in their faith ; they retain
many Hindi fashions, and some even have an idol in their
house. Till quite lately it was their custom to marry
Hindu women of the same caste, and these remained
Hindd, and did not adopt Muhammadanism. This is no
longer done ; but when I was in the country some of those
women were still alive.

Before concluding this chapter we may visit some of
the villages or towns and see what kind of habitations are
thoee of the Bogras and Ghibhalis.

A village in these parts is a collection of low huts with
flat tops, mud-walled, mud-floored, and mnd-roofed. The
floor and walls are neatly smeared with a mixture of cow-

32 INHABITANTS OF TEE OUTER HILLS.

dung and straw. The roofs are timbered either with
wood of one of the acacias or with pine. They are
supported by one or more pillars, which are capped with
a cross-piece some feet in length, often ornameuted with
carving, that makes a wide capital beneath the beam.

There is no light in the rooms but what may come in
at the opened door, or through the chinks of it when
closed, such a complete shutting out of the air being
equally useful in the very hot and in the cold weather.
The substance of the hut is a very bad conductor of heat,
and this character tends to keep the interior of an equable
temperature. I have often been glad to retreat to such a
place from the scorching sun, against which a tent is but
a poor protection.

Id front of the cottage is a level and smooth space,
nicely kept, where the people of the house spend nearly
half their time, and whore their cooking plftces are
arranged. With the Hindus, the whole cottage is neatly
kept and carefully swept; the higher castes, especially
Brahmans and Kajputs, give, considering their appliances,
an admirable example in this respect.

The larger villages and the towns have a double row
of shops, each of which consists of a hut, with its floor
raised two or three feet above the street, and with a
wider doorway, and in ftoai of it a verandah, where the
customer may come and sit with the shopkeeper to trans-
act business. Such a street is called a bazaar.

Of towns there are in the Outer Hills none besides
Jiimmoo of any great size, and there are only one or two
otliere that can be said to be flourishing, for the poverty
and the thinness of the population of the country round

THEIR VILLAGES AND TOWNS. 33

are against them. Since, however, some towns and some
other places show features of interest, we will proceed to
visit a few and note what has appeared worthy of observa-
tion.

Basoli was the seat of one of the Rajaships between
which the low hills were divided before Jummoo swallowed
up so many. A large building still remains that was
the palace ; it is now unkept and almost deserted. The
town would ere this have decayed but for the settlement
in it of some busy Kashmiris, who by their trade of
weaving bring some prosperity.

Basoli is one of several places in the low hills, being at
the edge of a wood that is seldom disturbed, where the
red monkey abounds; the monkey, being respected by
the Hindds and protected by the laws, has here come to
be most bold, so he invades the town in great numbers,
clambering over the palace walls and scampering acroas
the chief open space of the town, and often enough doing
mischief.

Bdmnagar, some miles north of Bamkot, is where the
Outer Hills join the Middle Mountains. It is built at a
height of 2700 feet above the sea, on a small triangular
plateau, which is cut oflF on two sides by ravines, and con-
nected along the third with the slopes of the hills that
surround and shut it in.

This town has signs of having at one time been among
the most flourishing in these parts. It was the capital of
the country called Bandralta, which used to be governed
by the Bandral caste of Mians. Their rule was displaced
by that of the Sikhs under Banjtt Singh, who took the
place and held it for a time, until, partly for the sake of

D

34 INHASITAXTS OF THE OUTES SILLS.

rewarding a favourite, partly because of the trouble of
holding it againat the hill people, the Thakars, Basjtt
Singh made Suchet Singh (an uncle of the preeent
Maharaja of Jummoo), Eaja of the place. Haja Suchet
Singh held it till his death. £ut I heard of a great
effort made by the Thakars against him too, when some
thousands came to assault it. The Dogras, however, held
out in the fort, which is a well-planned work, nntil aid
came from the Sikh army.

The town of Bsmnagar bears marks of the presence of
Kaja Suchet Singh. He took a pride in the place and
improved it and encouraged the growth of it. The
two long masonry-built bazaars were in his time full and
busy; merchants from Amritsar and from Eahnl were
attracted to the place. Yigoe, in 1839, remarked the
great variety of races of people who were to he seen there ;
the bazaars were then being constructed. A lai^ palace
adorned with gardens, and the well-built barracks, show
that Suchet Singh knew how to make himself and faiB
people comfortable. On his death, which occurred abont
1843, liamnagar came under the rule of Jummoo, and
there was no longer the presence of a Raja to keep up its
prosperity, which was indeed short-lived ; and now the
palace is deserted, and the bazaars are but half inhabited.
Tliere are a good many Kashmiri settled in Hamuagar;
some of them are occupied with shawl work, executing
orders from Nurpiir and Amritsar, and some in making
coarse woollen cloth.

Udavipir is a small modem town situated on the inner-
most dfln, about 2400 feet above the sea.. It was founded
by Htan Udam Singh, \^ho was the Maharaja's eldest

ANCIENT TEMPLES. 35

brother. A new palace is now rising there, and the place
may become more important. Its neighbour, Kiramchi,
about four miles off, has probably at present the greater
population.

Within a couple of marches from Jummoo, to the east-
ward, are tliree or four places worth seeing. One of these
is Babor, in the Dansal d^n, near the left bank of the
Tavi ; there are the ruins of three old Hindu temples, of
what age I know not ; the buildings were of great solidity
and considerable beauty ; the chief feature of one of them
was a hall whose roof was held up by eight fluted columns
supporting beams of stone ten feet in length; on these
beams were laid flatter stones chequerwise, so as to fill up
the corners of the square as far as the centre of the beams,
and so make a new square cornerwise to the other; on
this was laid another set of stones cornerwise to this, and
so on till the whole space was covered ; this square mass
of stone was ornamented with carving. One of the stones
measured in the building is as much as fourteen feet in
length; no mortar was used in the construction; this
must have been a predisposing cause of the lateral shifting
of some of the stones one upon the other which is to be
observed, the moving cause being, I take it, earthquakes.
These old temples, though clearly devoted to the same
worship as that now followed — Ganesha for instance,
the elephant-headed god, being among the prominent
figures — are quite neglected by and hardly known to the
people around. But we will now go to a spot that is in
the bloom of repute as a holy place, that is resorted to on
certain days both by the people of the hills and by many
from afar.

36 INHABITANTS OF THE OUTER HILLS.

This is Parmandal, a place of pilgrimage that the
Hindds visit for the purpose of obtainiog a moral
cleansing by bathing ia its waters. It is situated in a
nook among the low hills, far up one of the ravines that
drain down to tiie plain. I went there with the Maharaja
when-he and all his Court made the pilgrimage — if so it
can be called — on I forget what special day. It is two
marches from Jummoo, and we went witli a large camp;
nor were we intent wholly on the religious ceremonies, for
on the way the jnngles were beaten and some good pig-
Bticking rewarded us.

We entered the hills by the winding valley of the
Devak stream, the name of which denotes a sacred
character. We encamped at Utarbain, which is a place
but next in religious importance to the one that was our
gf>al; here were two gilf-domed temples surrounded by
cells for Brahmans to live in. The Maharaja gave food
this day to all Brahmans who might come ; a lat^
number were t-ollected in the quadrangle to partake of it,
and presents wore given — quantities of flour and other
provisions, and money as well to those Brahmans who
permanently stay here. From Utarbain we made the
journey, to Parmandal and back, in an afternoon ; we con-
tinued up the sandy bed of the same stream ; as we went
on, the valley became more confined and its sides more
rocky; thus winding, we suddenly came at one of the
turns in sight of a strange collection of buildings strangely
situated, — a double row of lofty and handsome buildings
with nought but the sandy stream-bed between them ;
there was the chief temple with a fine facade, and, behind
that, numerous domes, one gilt one conspicuous ; most of

OBiaiN OF THBIB NAME. 37

the others are hotises built by the courtiers of ItanjJt
Singh, who was attached to this place and occaeionally
visited it ; they are now inhabited by Brahmane.

The whole place was alive with people who bad come
to bathe and to worship ; booths and stalln, a^ for a fair,
had been pot up in the middle of the sandy space ; the
picturesque buildiogs, backed close by sandstone rocks,
and the crowds of cheerful pilgrims, made a gay and
pretty scene. It is only for a short time after rain that a
stream flows over the sands, now they had to dig two or
three feet to reach the water ; numbers of holes had thus
been made, and the people scooped up enough water to
bathe themselTes with ; the atoning power of such a
ceremony is considered in these bills to be second only to
that of a Tiflit to Haridwar on the Ganges.

A journey of uot many miles from Farmandal, but by a
ragged path over difficult hills, would bring us to two
strange Uttle lakes named Baroin Sar and Man Sar, the
Utter word of each name being the one used for " lake."
They are eight or ten miles apart, but are on about the
same strata, and are each about 2000 to 2200 feet above
the sea, being situated high between parallel ridges of the
sandstone.

Saroin Sar may be said to cover a kind of platform,
from which on two sides the ground foils rather steeply,
while on the other sides are low hills ; the lake is about
half a mile long and a quarter of a mile broad, a pretty
spot ; mango-trees and palms adorn its banks, and cover
thickly a little island in the centre, while the sandstone
hills round are partly clothed with brushwood, and
shaded, though lightly, with the bright loose foliage of

38 INHABITANTS OF THE OUTER HILLS.

the long-leaved pine. Man Sar is a larger lake, perhaps
three-quarters of a mile long and half a mile broad ; it is
in a very similar position, at a high level, and nearly
surrounded by hills, but at one side there is a great descent
into a steep valley or ravine.

It is these two hollows that give a name to the country
of the Dogras; the old appellation was Dvigartdesh,
which in Sanskrit means " two-hollow-country " ; this has
become altered to Dugar.

The country on the west of the Chinab River we shall
pass over in journeying to Kashmir, but one or two places
away from the route may here be mentioned. A few
miles short of the Jhelam is Mirpur^ a good large town; it
must be the next after Jummoo in size among those in
the Outer Hills ; it is a flourishing place, from, I think,
its being a centre, or a place of agency, for an export
trade in wheat that is carried on by the Jhelam River
from these hills to the places in its lower course. Some
spacious houses belonging to Khatris must have been
built from the profits of this trade.

Punch is a place of more than common importance. It
is the seat of Raja Moti Singh, who, under the Maharaja
his cousin, holds a considerable tract of country in fie£
Punch is a compact town, with a good bazaar; it is situated
at the meeting of two valleys, which make a wide opening
among the hills ; the valley it-;elf being somewhat over
3000 feet above the sea, we are here in a part that may
be reckoned to belong either to the Outer Hills or to
the Middle Mountains. There are here a fort and palace,
lately added to and improved with much taste by Raja
Moti Singh.

THE HILL FORTS. 39

All over the low hills, on both sides of the Chinab,
there are hill-forts in extraordinary number. They were
bnilt at the time when each little tract had its own ruler>
and each ruler had to defend himself against his neigh-
bour. These forts are commonly on the summit of some
rocky hill, with naturally-scarped face ; by their position
and by the way they were planned, they were well pro-
tected against escalade. Though now they have all come
into the hands of one ruler, they are still kept up, that is
so fiar that a small garrison — may be only of a dozen men
— is kept in each. Some of the most known are Mangla,
on the Jhelam ; Mangal Dev, near Naushahra ; and
Troch, near Eotli ; these are each on the summit of a
rocky precipitous hill most difiScult of access.

40 TEE COURT OF JUMMOO.

CHAPTEE m.

THE COURT OP JUMMOO.

JuMMOO from time immemorial — the natives say for five
thousand years — has been the seat of the rule of a Hindft
dynasty of the Bajpiit caste, as it is at this day. There is
a great contrast between the narrow limits of the power
of the earlier rulers and the wide extent of territory
governed by the present one. A century ago the old
regime was flourishing under Raja Ranjit Dev ; he is still
spoken of with the highest respect as a wise administrator,
a just judge, and a tolerant man. At that time the direct
rule of the Jummoo Raja hardly extended so much aa
twenty miles from the city ; but he was lord of a number
of feudatory chiefs, of such places as Akhnur, Dalpatpdr,
Kiramchi, and Jasrota, all in the Outer Hill tract, chiefs
who governed their own subjects, but paid tribute to, and
did military service for, their liege of Jummoo.

During a portion of the year they would be present at
that city, attending the court of the ruler and holding
separate ones themselves. At this day various spots in
the town are remembered where each of these tributaries
held its court on a minor scale. Doubtless there was
some petty warfare, resulting sometimes in an extension
and sometimes in a contraction of the power of the central
ruler ; but usually the chiefs were more occupied in sport
than in serious fighting, and, in fact, the various families

THE EARL Y STA TE. 41

had continued in nearly the same relative positions for
great lengths of time.

From the time of Ranjit Dev's death the fortunes of
Jummoo became more dependent than before on the
world outside the rugged hills, the result being a change
in, and at length almost a complete break-up of, the old
system of government. At the time spoken of, the Sikhs
had become rulers of the neighbouring part of the Panjab.
In the exercise of their love of fighting and of an in-
creasing desire for power, they mixed themselves up with
one of those succession disputes so characteristic of
oriental dynasties, which arose at Jummoo ; they attacked
and plundered that city, and the old hill principality
became dependent on the sect which now dominated the
Panjab.

When Banjtt Singh* became the chief ruler of the
Sikhs and had established himself at Labor, he found the
hill districts in a state of much disquiet, and bethought
him of a plan for settling these affairs by establishing at
Jummoo, Bamnagar, and Piinch, three brothers, favourites
of his, who were connected with the old rulers of Jummoo.
These three, Gulab Singh, Dhiyan Singh, and Suchet
Singh, who, it is said, were descended in the third
geoeration from a brother of Ranjit Dev, were young men
at the time when Banjit Singh's rise to chief power at
Labor made that the most likely place for the advance-
ment of those whose only trade was fighting. The
brothers came to Banjit Singh's court with the object of

* The title *' Singh " used to be borne almost exclusively by Bdjpdts ; in
later years it came to be used by men of the Sikh sect, of whatever caste
they might be. Banjit SiDgh was of the Jat caste, and was in no way
connected either with Ranjit Dev or with any of the Dogra tribe.

42 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

pushing their way as soldiers of fortune. Gulab Singh
first became a sawar, or trooper, under Jemadar Ehushial
Singh, a trusted servant of Kanjit Singh's. It was not
long before Dhiyan Singh attracted the attention of the
ruler, for he was a young man of considerable gifts of
person as well as mental talents. He obtained the special
favour of Eanjtt Singh, and before long was advanced to
the important post of deodhiwala or deorhtwala, that is to
say, chief door-keeper. In a native court, a place of
personal government, the door-keeper, possessing as h^
does the power of giving or restraining access to the chief,
has considerable influence; this influence Dhiyan Singh
now exerted to advance his family, and it was not long
before the fortunes of all three became well founded.

Gulab Singh rose to the independent command of a
troop, and, distinguishing himself in one of the hill wars,
was rewarded with the rajaship of his own home, Jummoo^
to be held in fief under the Labor ruler. This was
about the year 1820. Soon Dhiyan Smgh and Suchet
Singh received respectively Punch and Bamnagar on the
same terms.

Gulab Singh spent most of his time at Jummoo and in
its neighbourhood, occupied first in consolidating and
then in e'xtending his power, though, as occasion required,
he would, as was his bounden duty, join the Sikh army
with his forces, and take part in their military operations.
His own immediate subjects had, by the continuance of
disturbances and the absence of settled rule, become
somewhat lawless; robbery and murder were common.; it
is said that at that time a cap or pagri that a traveller
might wear w£ts enough for a temptation to plunder

MAHARAJA QULAB SINGE. 43

and violence. With a firm hand he put this down, and
brought his country to such a state of quiet and security
as makes it at this moment in that respect a pattern. As
to the feudal chiefs around him, he, in some cases — for
what particular causes or with what excuses it is difiBcult
at this time to trace — confiscated their fiefs aud became
direct ruler ; in other cases he retained and attached to
his goYemment the nobles, while gradually lessening
their political importance. The tendency of his govern-
ment was always towards ceutralization. He was a man
of stronger character than most of the rulers that had
preceded him, and probably his experience in the wider
area of the Panjab had taught him both the advantages
and the feasibility of relatively diminishing the power of
feudal subordinates.

«

Gulab Singh in later years came in contact with many
Englishmen, and several of these have written their im-
pressions of his character. I myself never saw him ; he
died before I came to Jummoo; but his doings and
sayings were still much thought of there, and I en-
deavoured to form, from what I heard, an estimate of his
character.

As a soldier he seems to have been thoroughly brave, but
always careful and prudent. Though few great feats of
arms are recorded of him, yet he was generally successful.
He was more ready to intrigue than to employ force ; but
when the neces^ity for fighting was clear, he proved
almost as much at home in it as he was in diplomacy. A
great part of his success was due to the wisdom he dis-
played in recognizing the times when each could with
most advantage be brought into play.

44 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

As an administrator he was better than most of those
of hia own time and neighbourhood, but yet the results of
his rule do not give one the highest impression of his
powers in this respect. He knew how to govern a country
in the sense of making his authority respected all through
it. For the carrying out of the further objects of good
government he probably cared little ; his experience had
shown him no instance of their attainment, and possibly
he had not in his mind the idea of a government different
in kind from that which he succeeded in administering;
for of all the governments within reach of his observation
those were good in which the authority of the ruler was
assured by force and the revenue came in punctually.
On this principle he consolidated his power.

One of his chief faults was an unscrupulousness as to
the means of attaining his own objects ; he did not draw
back from the exercise of cruelty in the pursuit of them,
but he was not wantonly cruel. An avariciousness always
distinguished him; in the indulgence of the passion he
was unable to take the wide view by which his subjects*
wealth would be found compatible with the increase of
his own.

Some qualities had Gulab Singh which mitigated the
effects of an administration worked on the principles
above denoted. He was always accessible, and was
patient and ready to listen to complaints. He was much
given to looking into details, so that the smallest thing
might be brought before him and have his consideration.
With the customary offering of a rupee as naaar anyone
could get his ear; even in a crowd one could catch his
eye by holding up a rupee and crying out ** Maharaja *arz

A CQ UISITION OF TERR I TOR 7. 45

Aai / " that is, " Maharaja, a petition ! " He would pounce
down like a hawk on the money, and having appropriated
it would patiently hear out the petitioner. Once a man
after this fashion making a complaint, when the Maharaja
was taking the nipee, closed his hand on it and said,
" No, first hear what I have to say." Even this did not
go beyond Gulab Singh's patience; he waited till the
fellow had told his tale and opened his hand; then
taking the money he gave orders about the case.

Without entering into the details of the extension of
Golab Singh's power, I may say that in the next ten or
fifteen years all the Outer Hill region and some of the
mountain tract had become completely subject either to
him or to his brothers, with whom he acted in concert.
Then he turned his attention to wider fields. In the
years from 1834 to 1841, a lieutenant of his, Zurawar
Singh by name, efiected the conquest of Ladakh and
Baltistau, which are moimtain tracts of great area but
little population lying behind the Snowy Range. Fortune
still fitvoured Gulab Singh ; by the death of his brother.
Sachet Singh, the principality of Eamnagar fell to him,
so that soon there was but one country left which he
much coveted ; that country was Kashmir, and the events
of the winter of 1845-6 ended in its acquisition.

War broke out between the Sikhs and the British
(whose frontier was then the Sutlej River) in the autumn
of 1845, when Ranjlt Singh had been dead some eight
years, and there was no longer a strong ruler to keep in
hand the turbulent Sikh nation.

Gulab Singh had for some time kept aloof from Labor
politics, and was not involved in the court intrigues that

46 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

led to the movement of the Sikh army into British
territory ; neither did he hurry down with his troops to
help the Sikhs as he would have done in the time of his
old master Ranjlt Singh. He kept away until the
decisive battle of Sobi-aon wns fought, at whicli victory
declared for the British. Then he appeared almost as
mediator between the two contending powers, for after the
various revolutions and massacres that had lately o(*curred
at Labor, and the late defeat^) of the Sikh army, there
seemed to be none but Gulab Singh who oould shape
events^ who could guide the Sikh nation to any sensible
course. The confidence of the British too he had before
acquired ; especially had Sir Henry (then Colonel)
Lawrence, who was now one of the diplomatic officers
employed in the negotiations, formed both a friendship
for Gulab Singh and a high opinion of his sagacity and
of his usefulness to those who could enlist his interests.

The result was that Kashmir (which in 1819 had been
conquered by the Sikhs from the Afghans) was detached
from the Sikh territories and handed over by the British
to the Eaja of Junimoo, the higher title of Mahamja
being then conferred on him ; Gulab Singh at the same
time paid over to the British the sum of 750,0002. and
acknowledged the supremacy of the British Government,
and agreed to certain stipulations which are laid down in
the Treaty, which was signed on 16th of March, 1846.
Thus it comes about that the Maharaja of Jummoo and
Kashmir is a ruler tributary to the Empress of India, with
relations carefully defined by Treaty, the upshot of which
may be said to be that he is obliged to govern his foreign
policy according to the views of the Government of India»

THE PRESENT MAHARAJA. 47

while in domestic administration he is nearly inde-
pendent.

In the year 1857 Maharaja Gulab Singh died ; he was
succeeded by his son, the present Maharaja, Ranbir Singh,
being about twenty-seven years of age. To Maharaja
Banbir Singh's Court I came in 1862, and for the next
ten years I remained in his service. Several successive
summers found me occupied in the geological explora-
tion of the mountains, for which originally I was engaged;
later the management of the Maharaja's Forest Depart-
ment devolved upon me ; in my last year of service I was
entrusted with the governorship of the Province of Ladakh.
Daring almost every winter several .months were passed
by me at Jummoo in daily attendance at his Court, so
that the ways and doings of the Darbar became almost as
familiar to me as the customs of my own country. Of
these doings I will now tell something to the reader.

It is the Maharaja's custom twice daily to sit in public
Darbftr, to hold open court, for the hearing of petitions.
The Mandi, or public place of Jummoo, has then its live-
liest appearance, for many are those affected by what goes
on at such a court, and for all of a certain standing it is an
occasion on which they pay their respects to the Maharaja,
whether business requires their attendance or not. At the
morning Darbar the Maharaja will take his seat at nine or
ten o'clock beneath one of the arches of the arcade that
runs along the side of the Square, at a level a few feet
above where the petitioners and the outer public stand.
His seat will be the flat cushion that here answers for
throne ; on one side will be his eldest son, on the other

48 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

the chief miuister, while other ministers and courtiers and
attendants will be seated round the chamber against the
wall, in order more or less according to their degree.

Each and all sit cross-legged on the carpet, only the
ruler himself and his son having the flat round cushion
that denotes superiority. Perhaps some readers require
to be told that all natives of India doff their shoes on
coming to a carpet or other sitting place ; here, from the
Maharaja downwards, all of them are barefoot; their shoes
are left outside, and socks they are not used to. Thus
seated and supported, with a guard drawn up outside, the
Maharaja looks out down on the petitioners who stand in
the Square. Each coming in succession, according as his
petition, previously written on stamped paper and given
in, is called on, stands in front with hands closed in the
attitude of supplication, while the prayer is read out

The subjects of the petitions are wonderfully varied;
perhaps an employe will ask leave to return to his home,
or to take his mother's ashes to the Ganges ; next, may
be, a criminal is brought to receive final sentence ; then a
poor woman, with face veiled, will come to complain of
some grievance or other; or a dispute about a broken
contract of marriage will have to be decided. These are
all listened to patiently enough, and on the simpler cases
the decision is given at once and written on the petition.
The civil and criminal cases have usually been previously
inquired into by judicial officers, in the courts of first
instance, and perhaps have even been adj«idicated on by
the Appeal Court of Jummoo or of Sirinagar, but it is
open to suitors and complainants to try their fortune with
the Maharaja himself. The Maharaja does his best to

DAILY DARBAR. 49

get at the trnth ; will examine and sharply cross-examine
the witnesses. It frequently ends in his referring the
matter to the magistrate for investigation ; in which case
it will be again brought before him for final decision.

During this time the Square is thronged by numbers of
people of such variety of races as is not often seen even
in India. There are men from all parts of the dominions.
Some from the higher countries, come to find work at
Jnmmoo when their own homes are deep-covered with
snow; others are here to prosecute a suit, for which
purpose they are ready, and sometimes find it necessary,
to give up months of their winter. There are Eashmiiis
and Baltis by scores, Faharls of various castes, Ladakhis
occasionally; some recognizable at once by the cast of
their features, others by a characteristic way of keeping
the hair; the stalwart heavy frame of the practised
Kashmiri porter too is unmistakable. All these we shall
in turn visit in their homes. Then from beyond the
territories come occasional travellers, as Yarkandt mer-
chants, or pilgrims to Mecca from, may be, farther off
still ; while from the west there is always a succession of
Kabulis and other Fathans or Afghans. Horse merchants
from Kabul are always finding their way to Jummoo to
sell their animals to the Government, while wild fellows
out of the villages of that country or of the neighbouring
Ydsufzai come eagerly to take service among the
Irregulars of the Maharaja's army.

Thus till nearly noon the whole town is alive with
business in the streets and with Government work in the
Square. Then the Court breaks up, and the Maharaja
goes in to his dinner; the ministers disperse to their

B

50 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

homes, each of them accompanied by a string of followen,
or *^ clientele/' who will now be able to get a hearing
from their patron in the half hour before dinner; the
oflSces close, the guard of honour is dismissed, and in a
very few minutes the Square is quiet and almort
deserted.

So for three hours it remains ; and for that time
business is slack in the bazaars, till men, waking up tnm
their siesta, bestir themselves again. At four or fi^e
o'clock the Maharaja comes out for a ride ; his elephants
and horses have been waiting at the Palace-gate; the
ministers had gone in and now accompany him out, one
of them probably mounting on the same elephant with
him, or if the Maharaja chooses to ride on horseback, all
will closely follow him. Orderlies run, some in advance
to clear the way, and some at the Maharaja's very side,
even holding on to his saddle-trappings. The natives of
India are not ashamed of, and do not in any way dislike,
this close attendance, which adds both to their state and
their safety. They are puzzled to understand how it is
that Englishmen like better to walk alone.

A three- or four-mile ride, a visit to some building in
progress, or to one of the temples, perhaps flying a hawk,
or paying respects to his spiritual adviser, the only
person whose house he enters, these pursuits fill up the
time of the Chief till dark, and then the evening Darb4r
begins.

This will probably be a more private one ; or the Mian
Sahib, the Maharaja's eldest son, will hear petitions, while
his father does business with some of the ministers apart
It must also be borne in mind that business is not

SPECIAL DABBARS. 51

ly thought of a ruler while sitting in Court. The
* is not like the Elachahri of a Deputy Commissioner
Indian Froyinces, from which he runs away the
it he can get free. It is at the same time a social
g; a chief opportunity for the ruler to see people
LI parts, and to hear — if he will choose to ask, and
re straightforward enough to give-— opinions on
3 going on in the world. So conversation often
.tes with work, especially in these evening Darbars,
thus last on till eight or nine o'clock, when all
e to their homes, to supper and bed.
I are the every-day customs of the Court, which
lowed with great regularity.

re are certain days,, days of festival, when special
'S are held in somewhat different form. These four
,nt Fanchmt, Nauroz, Sair, and Dasera — particularly
be noticed.

y in our year, on the fifth of the HindA month of
the feast of Basant Panchmi is held in honour of
aing of spring, which by that time is thus near that
y coldest weather has gone by and the tide of the
has turned.

yone on that day wears yellow,, some dressing
tely in that colour, others only putting on a yellow

the custom on this and on the other three days
lamed, for the Maharaja's servants to bring him a
a present — usually of money — according to the

or rather in proportion to the pay, of the giver.
dLB now become so regulated that everyone is on
ays obliged to give from a tenth to a twelfth of his

52 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

monthly pay. These sums amount in the year to what is
equivalent to a three-per-cent. income-tax, levied, how-
ever, only on Government servants.

To receive these presents and to do honour to the day,
a grand Darbar and parade of troops is held. The first
time I was present it took place in the open, on a raised
platform at the edge of the Parade-ground, beneath a
large shamiana, or awning. The Maharaja and all the
members of the Court came in procession from the Palace,
on elephants and horses decked in their most gorgeous
trappings; the elephants are almost covered with long
velvet cloths embroidered deep with gold, upon which the
howdahs are mounted.* The horses are handsomely
caparisoned with velvet and gold saddle-cloths and
jewelled head-stalls.

The Maharaja, dressed in yellow and silver, takes his
seat upon a cushion covered with a silver-embroidered
velvet cloth of the same colour ; for yellow pervades the
whole ornamentation. Then the troops, who were drawn
up in line all round the Parade, in number from between
two and three thousand, after a general salute, march past»
and at the same time the presentation of nazars begins.

First the Mian Sahib and his younger brothers put
before their father bags of gold coins; the chief IHwan
follows with a smaller number, and the other ministers
and courtiers in succession give something, either in gold
or rupees. The number of coins presented, when not

* Here are none of the canopied howdahs common in the states of
Uindostan ; ours are in the form of trays with upright sides ; they aie
covered with silver or silver-gilt plate ; there is room for three people to
sit cross-legged in each.

PRESENTATION OF NAZAR8. 53

calculated upon the income (as it is not with the few
higher members of the Court), is always an odd number,
as 11, 21, or 101. Then the servants of lower rank come
forward, each being presented by the head of his depart-
ment; the name of each is read from a list, and the
amount of his nazar is marked down; those that are
absent will have the sum deducted from their pay. So a
large heap of rupees gradually accumulates in front of the
Maharaja.

AH through this time, besides the hum and hubbub of
80 many people pushing impatiently forward to come in
front of His Highness that their salaam may be noticed,
there is the noise of the bands of the regiments as they
march past; or, when that is over, of the dancing and
singing of the dance-girls, who from the first have been
waiting in numbers. But with all this the Maharaja will
find occasion to give a kind word to some old servant, or
a word of encouragement to the son of one who may be
presented for the first time, showing by his greetings how
good a memory he has for people and for faces. Then,
later, a few poor people, perhaps gardeners or such, on so
little a month that the tenth of it would not amount to a
piece of silver, will come with a tray of fruit or vegetables,
and be happy if the Maharaja takes notice of it. When
all have passed, a little time may be spent in watching
the nautch, or dance, and then, the Maharaja rising, the
assembly disperse.

The next periodical Darbar is on Nauroz, a Persian
festival introduced into India by the Muhammadan rulers,
and now kept up even in such a thoroughly Hindii Court
as this. It is here celebrated in just the same way as the

54 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

last, without, however, the prevalence of yellow in the
dresses.

The third festival is called 8air; it is held in the
autumn. In this, which lasts for several days, not only
the Gt)vemment servants are present, but heads of
villages, tradespeople, workmen, and others, firom many
days' journey around, come in, bringing with them lor
presents specimens of their work, or of the products of
their land or neighbourhood. On this day green is the
prevailing colour worn.

The fourth and last of the nazar-darbar days is DiuercL
It is a great festival, celebrated all over India in memory
of the victory of Bama, or Bam, one of the chief heroes of
Hindii mythology, over Bawan, or Bavana, the King of
Ceylon. The several incidents of the war, as told in the
Mahabharata, are illustrated during a succession of days.
Dasera is the last of these, when an immense image is
placed to represent Bawan ; Stta, the wife of Bam, whom
Bawan had stolen away, personated by a boy dressed np^
is carried towards, and lets fly an arrow against him.
This is the signal for a general assault, and in the midst
of the roar of artillery the images of Bftm's enemies are
blown up, burnt, and destroyed. It is just before this
climax that the nazars are presented.

As this Darbar is held at the beginning of the cold
weather, it is usually the first day of coloured clothes,
pcishmina being worn in place of the plain white oalioo
and muslin common through the hot weather; so the
dresses are gay and varied.

There are a few other feasts held which may have an
interest.

FESTIVAL OF HOLL 55

Hcli is a strange festival, a carnival indeed, the object
and origin of which are not very clear. It is a movable
feasty and comes in February or March. While it con-
tinues the Hindis free themselves, or at all events con-
sider that they have a right to be free, if they choose,
from the restraints of decorum, and indulge in fun. In
some places and in some Courts the carnival is kept up
with great spirit for many days. Hanjit Singh's Court
was noted for its celebration of Holi. At Jummoo it lasts
a week, during which time business is attended to in the
mornings as usual, but each afternoon is given up to the
rites and orgies of the Holt. All the courtiers, dressed
in white, take their seats, with the Maharaja, in some open
place; then there are distributed around handfuls of
yellow, red, and purple powder, which the people throw
oyer one another, till their faces and beards are com-
pletely covered with it, and become of a frightful hue ;
then syringes are brought, and coloured water is squirted
about, till all, the Maharaja included, are in as good a
mess as can be imagined. At certain times, at a word
from the Maharaja, the two lines of people facing each
other make a mimic attack, by throwing handfuls of the
powder and balls of gelatine or glue filled with it, till the
whole air is made dark with the clouds of it.

On the last day the licence of Holt is allowed in the
streets as well ; then no one can complain if, on going
through them, he be pelted with colour^balls, or showered
on with tinted water.

Diwali is held at the beginning of winter. It is a day
for the worship of Lakshmt, the goddess of wealth ; the
characteristic of it is illumination. Lamps are placed in

56 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

long regular lines on the cornices of all the public build-
ings, and hardly a house is left without its own row of
little oil lamps. The name of the day must be derived
from the Hind& word diva, a lamp. At this time mer-
chants collect their money in a heap, and bow down and
worship it. Gambling, too, is practised by nearly all on
this day, under the notion that it will bring luck for the
coming year. In the evening a dress Darbar is held. It
is the custom to begin illuminations early, almost before
it falls dark, and they are over by the time that in
England they first light up.

Lori is a festival and religious ceremony, not, I think,
general through India, but observed in these hilb and in
the Panjab. The religious part of it consists in offering
a burnt sacrifice, but to whom the sacrifice is made I
never was able to find out. A large fire is made in the
Square ; the Maharaja and his people, having first made
their obeisances in the temple hard by, standing round,
throw in handfuls of grain of all sorts, the signal for this
being the decapitation by sword of a white kid, the head
of which they throw into the fire first The people keep
the feast as well; in passing down the bazaars on this
night, one has difiBculty, in the narrow streets, to ayoid
the fires that every here and there are burning for the
sacrifice.

In these and all other festivals and rejoicings, the chief
entertainment of the Darbar is the nautch, or dance.
Twenty or thirty dancing-girls are assembled, but the
dancing is done by but one at a time. She — followed
closely by two or three men, each drumming with his
hands on a pair of small drums fastened in front of them.

THE NA UTCH OR DANCE. 57

end up — advances with short steps taken on the heel,
almost without lifting the foot oflF the ground, so that the
movement is hardly indicated by any change in the
position of the body. This is accompanied by stretching
out and posturing of the arms and hands in as elegant
a fietshion as possible; and the women of India have
generally very well-formed hands and arms, which their
tight-fitting sleeves show oflF.

Then the girl begins a song of a somewhat monotonous
melody, plaintive in effect, but partly spoiled by the
shrill and loud tone it is given in. Here the accompani-
ment of the men with drums comes in, and they join their
voices, too, exceeding the lady in volume of sound and in
harshness.

The women are dressed not untastefuUy, except for
their fashion of high waists. They have a gown with a
long skirt in many gathers, usually of coloured muslin ;
over their heads they wear a chadar, or long veil, often
of muslin inwoven with gold ; this is used by modest
women to keep the face from the view of strangers ; here
it is held and moved about in* graceful ways, and made of
more service to set off than to conceal the beauties of the
wearer. Over the forehead hang gilt or golden orna-
ments, and round the ankles are strings of little round
silver bells, which are made to tinkle in time with the
dance by striking the heels together.

There is no real dance, either of steps or figures ; it is
simply advancing and retiring to music ; the end of it^
apparently, is the display of the girl's face and of the
graceful movements of the arms. Although for us, who
are used to greater variety and activity of movement, and

58 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

are used to seeing women unveiled, these nautches are
tame enough, and, after the first, hardly worth looking at,
yet they are certainly much enjoyed by the people of
India. The song, too, is much thought of and delighted
in. At our Darbar all sit gazing contmuously ; there
is seldom any conversation held during the time; all
solemnly look on and listen.

The Maharaja sometimes varies the really close labour
of his daily courts, and the established periodical festivals,
with a day given over to Shikar or sport For this he
preserves closely for some twenty miles on each side of
Jummoo, along the foot of the hills and over the plain.
The game is chiefly pig, but spotted deer also are found.
The hunting season is in the cold weather, from October
or November till March.

In some parts, where there is no open ground, the
coverts are driven towards a line of stages * made among
the branches of the trees, on each of which sits a marks*
man, so as to be out of sight of the game. A large bag
is usually got from a drive of this kind.

The more exciting sport, however, is pig-sticking, for
which in some places the ground is well adapted. The
following is the method. The rendezvous is from seven
to twenty miles away from Jummoo ; the kind of place
chosen is where there is a good large covert, one thick
enough for the pig to be at home in, or else a field of
sugar-cane, with an open plain in front, and, if possible,
no more cover for half a mile or more. Preparations are

* The stage is oaUed manna^ Id Dogri ; in Hindofit&nt, maohAn.

A HUNT. 59

made and orders are sent out the evening before.
Through the night, sepoys and watchmen are going
through all the Tillages that are to be called on for their
senriceSy giving notice, by crying out with a loud voice, of
the place and time of meeting. It is incumbent on the
inhabitants to send one man from every house, and
before sunrise these take their way, stick in hand, and
some with tomtoms and other equally musical instru-
ments, to the appointed place.

The Maharaja may start from Jummoo about sunrise ;
he is accompanied by all his Court ; they will, probably,
ride to the meet on elephants. Then there is a long
procession of followers — there are scores of led horses ;
then commonly a squadron of lancers from one of the
regiments ; numbers of the Mians, who are always eager
for this sport ; numerous attendants on the Dtwans and
the Wazirs; banddqis, or orderlies of the Maharaja,
carrying long guns in a loose red cloth cover ; men with
dogs of various sorts coupled together; hauriaSy men
whose business is snaring, with their short heavy spears
and their snares ; one or two Eakima, or physicians, and
many others who do not intend to take part in the
hunting, but come because there is nothing doing that
day at Jummoo.

On the party reaching the covert-side, the beaters —
the villagers who had been coUected, who are generally
about 2000 in number — are placed close in a line along
one edge of the wood, and the riders take up their places
on the opposite side in such positions as to have a
vantage-ground for following up the pig when they
break, without letting themselves be seen till such time

\

60 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

as the animars retreat is irretrievably cut off. Then,
when all is ready, the signal is given by bugle, and the
whole line of men enter the wood together ; keeping as
close and as well in line as they can, they advance,
beating every bush likely to conceal game of any sort,
and uttering various frightening cries. All this being
accompanied by the report of blunderbusses and the
discordant sound of irregularly beaten drums. This, if
well kept up, effectually drives forward all the game.
The progress is, of course, slow — slow enough to keep in
impatience the riders at the farther side, who from the
beginning of the beating have been watching, spear in
hand, for a break. First come out, as a rule, the jackals ;
then, perhaps, a hare or two ; and later, when the line
of beaters are closely nearing the edge, and there seems
no other chance for it but to run, the pig break, often
doing so in a spore of ten or a dozen, and make across
the plain for the nearest wood; and then begins the
rush.

In this " royal " hunt, with such a crowd of people .
mounted, it is impossible to enjoy the sport at its best
Your run after the boar you have singled out may be
interrupted by some horsemen who have been waiting
half a mile off, for the bare chance of something coming
their way; or after one pig as many as twenty spears
may be coming from different quarters, giving him no
chance for his life. However, there is something to be
got from it ; a man well mounted is pretty sure of a spear
or two, and often enough a pig will steal away clear of
the crowd, and give good sport to the one or two riders
who may have seen him.

A BOTAL MARRIAGE. 61

With such numbers in the field the pig will meet their
fate in yarious ways; besides the spearing they are
pulled down by dogs that are let loose on them ; some-
times a sepoy on foot will cut down a pig with his talwar,
or sword ; some, again, are knocked over by the baurias,
with their heavy spears; and others are caught in the
snares and there murdered. On an ordinary good day
twenty or thirty are sure to be brought in.

If in the course of the beating any number of pigs have
broken through the line — which they are yery apt to do,
as the men will often let them pass through in preference
to facing them — the same jungle is beaten oyer again for
a second chance, and then perhaps another coyert is
tried ; and so on, with, may be, an hour's rest, for a picnic
breakfast, till eyening, when the whole party return in
order as before to Jummoo ; and the beaters, tired and
hungry, take their way to their homes, haying performed
a service which may be said to be one of the conditions of
tenure of their land.

A royal marriage was an event, not occurring often in
Jummoo, at which I had the fortune to be present, in the
beginning of 1871.

Such an event was unusual, because in former times,
and down to only twenty-five years before, it had been
the practice for people of the caste to which the Maharaja
belongs — the branch of the Bajpdts which hold their
traditional customs in purity, and allow their hands to
be sullied by no labour but the work of fighting or
hunting, — to destroy their female children immediately

62 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

after birth. The men, unable to find wives among their
own caste-people, took them from the caste next below.

So it happened that for long there had been no
marriage of a daughter of the house of the Bajas of
Jummoo, though tradition spoke of such a thing as
havingy from some special circumstances, occurred eighty
years or so ago.

This practice of infanticide coming to an end in I8469
Maharaja Gulab Singh, a few years afterwards, opened
his eyes to the fact that he had a granddaughter, and was
at a loss to know to whom he should marry her. For it
was no easy matter ; the giving of a girl in marriage is
acknowledging yourself to be lower in caste-standing than
the family she goes to, and there were few in this part of
India of whom he would willingly acknowledge that.
But a neighbouring Baja there had been, the Raja of
Jaswal, near Eangra, whose family was ancient and
descent pure enough to satisfy the Jummoo family. He,
however, had been dispossessed of his principality by the
British, on account of participation in one of those con-
spiracies and combinations that some of the Panjab chiefs
made against our power in the interval between the two
Sikh wars. At the time we speak of he was detained a
state prisoner in British India. Him Maharaja Gul&b
Singh begged off, explaining his purpose that a scion of
the Baja's family should marry his granddaughter. 80
for many years the Jaswal Baja lived in the Maharaja's
territory, and now had come the time for the marriage of.
his son with the present Maharaja's daughter.

It had been delayed later than had been expected, and
the two were older than Hindd bride and bridegroom

~V ' I " ^ _i

A B BIDETS TB0U88EAU. 63

commonly are. The bridegroom was about twenty, and
the bride had reached fifteen ; but now, at last, in the
spring of 1871, all was ready.

I had an opportunity of seeing the trousseau, which
was on view in the Palace at Jummoo. With it was put
the dowry. Indeed, there is here no distinction between
the two. The principle is that everything, including
cash, that can be wanted in a household, should be sup-
plied in quantity enough to last for many years.

The things were laid out in one of the large re-
ception halls, and, overflowing that, filled also side rooms
and verandahs, while the more bulky and rougher articles
occupied the courtyard. It was really a rich display. In
front of the entrance was a heap of money-bags— one
hundred thousand rupee bags — making a lakh of rupees,
the value of 10,OOOZ. Close by, on trays, were gold coins
to the amount of 2500Z. Then, laid all over the floors in
trays, were the dresses, eleven hundred in number, iboth
made up and in piece, of muslin, silk, pashmtna, and gold
brocade, some undoubtedly rich, and all more or less
adorned with gold braiding or edging ; with many of them
were gold-worked slippers, these long and narrow, with
the heel pressed down.

Next in importance was the jewellery, divided into two
classes, one of plain gold and silver, and one with precious
stones, besides necklaces of gold coins. Near these were
silver dishes for household purposes, and a tray and cups
of solid gold. Along one side were elephant and camel
trappings, including much of massive silver; and there
were some handsome ornamental saddlery, and silver
bells and necklaces for cows, besides many miscellaneous

64 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

things — fans of various sizes and shapes ; a large state
umbrella, with gold-covered stick; drums and homfl,
and, strangely enough, dolls and balls for the bride to
play with.

We must not pass without notice the dhola, or palanquin,
in which she is destined to be carried away, covered with
gold brocade ; while five plainer ones are ready for the
five attendants who are to go with her. Outside were
pitched a set of tents and awnings, laid with handsome
carpets, all part of the outfit; and near at hand were
exposed the household utensils — cooking-pots in number,
and some of gigantic size for feasts ; iron spits, and other
cooking contrivances ; axes, shovels, and a variety of other
things too many to enumerate; nurnhers of horse thoes and
naiU.

The wedding and feasting took up three or four days.
On the first, the bridegroom, with his father, came in
procession through the city, dressed in gold brocade, and
veiled with a fall made of strips of gold tissue. At nine
in the evening, accompanied by a great crowd, they
reached the Square, where they were met and greeted
by the Maharaja, who retiring, the bridegroom and his
father were brought, amid the glare and noise of fireworks
and bombs, to the Shish Mahal, or mirror-room, and there
sat surrounded by their own chief people and a few of the
Maharaja's, while a nautch was performed in front of
them. After half an hour the Baja and others left, and
his son remained and had a light meal — all this being
fixed in their customs, even to what he should eat.

After midnight, the bridegroom was carried inside the
Palace, and the marriage ceremony was performed. This

MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 65

is done in great privacy; not eyen the bridegroom's
&ther is present, only the Maharaja himself, one or two
pandits (the officiating priests), and one or two of the
Maharaja's near relations. This, of course, I could not
myself witness ; but I heard of a curious part of the
ceremony. When the Maharaja is to give away the bride,
as the gift should come from both him and his wife, the
Maharani, being behind a curtain, is connected to her
husband by a long piece of cloth, and so made partner in
the rite. The ceremony lasted, I believe, two or three
hours, and then the bridegroom, leaving his bride still in
her father's house, returned to his quarters.

Another of the strange customs is that when the bride-
groom comes to the bride's house, as at this time, he is
assailed by the women of the household with abuse, and
songs of reproach are sung at him ; these, I believe, are
composed of nothing better than the equivalents of the
usual Indian abusive terms.

It must be understood that the occasion is not supposed
to be one of rejoicing on the side of the bride's party, but
rather one of grief; thus all the signs of enjoyment were
on the bridegroom's side. The fireworks and salutes and
all were prepared by his people only, and, on this same
principle, we of the Maharaja's Darbar wore no better or
gayer clothes than our every-day ones.

The next day there was nothing doing, except that the
bridegroom's people held high festival at their own
place, in which none of our side joined.

The third day the Maharaja entertained the party at
dinner. The preparations were made in a courtyard
having arcades on two sides of it. The bridegroom and

F

66 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

his father first came and sat down for a while with the
Maharaja, who was seated beneath an awning on the roof,
at a spot which commanded a view of the whole ; thea
these visitors were conducted below, and all their party
(who amounted to 700) placed themselves according to
their own arrangement All this preparation took a
couple of hours. At last all were seated, either under
the arcade or in the open, on strips of woollen cloth
(which is supposed to have some special character of
purity as compared with other fabrics), or else, in the
ease of Brahmans and a few others who do not eat meat,
on a platter, so to say, of leaves sewn together. Then
the serving of the meats, twelve or fifteen sorts, to each
person, took nearly another hour. They were put into
leaf-cups, vvhile for the rice a leaf-platter was laid. At
last, when the rice was served, a heap to each man, the
Jaswal Eaja began his eating, and all followed suit, and
well made up for the waiting. For drink, water is the
only thing given. Soon after this, the Maharaja, who had
been looking on at the preparations, left, for neither he
nor any of his people were to partake with their guests.

The next was the last day of the ceremonies. The
bridegroom was to take away his bride. At two or three
in the afternoon, he came quite quietly on an elephant,
and went inside the Palace, while the courtiers congre-
gated on the steps leading down from the Palace-door,
and all the people of the city looked on. The procession,
which was to be long, slowly began to file away. In
speaking of the dowry, I had not mentioned that a
number of horses, cows, camels, &c., formed part of it.
These now headed the procession ; first proceeded 51

THE BRIDIPS DEPARTURE, 67

cows, then 51 buffaloes, adorned with red and yellow
clothing and with the silyer necklaces; then 51 fine
camels passed, with cloths of the same colours ; 300
sheep and goats, too, were collected, but they did not
go out in procession. Next came coolis, carrying the
trousseau; all the goods described above they carried
in covered baskets on their heads, about one thousand
men walking regularly in pairs ; these were followed by
a hundred sepoys in full uniform, bearing each a bag of
1000 rupees, thus was the lakh of rupees carried ; then
the gift horses were led out, showy in action and gaily
trapped, followed by three elephants, which also formed
part of the dowry.

Immediately after these, appeared, from the gateway
of the inner palace, the dhola, in which were the bride
and bridegroom; so closely covered was it that not a
glimpse of them could be got ; this, too, was their first
interview with each other, for they had only met once
before, and that was at the marriage ceremony, when
they were both veiled. The Maharaja accompanied the
bride and bridegroom to just outside his doors, and no
farther. Then joined in the procession, so as to precede
the dhola or palanquin, the singers and players with their
tomtoms and their squeaky instruments, while imme-
diately in front of it walked five of the Maharaja's chief
officers ; then came the Mian Sahib, the bride's brother,
on foot, holding the pole of the palanquin. The pro-
cession was closed by two of the Maharaja's treasurers
scattering money from an elephant ; first gold pieces, of
which one saw handfuls glittering in the sun as they fell,
and afterward rupees.

68 THE COURT OF JUMMOO.

It should be told that a party though only a small
proportion, of the trousseau was of presents from the
Maharaja's chief officers and dependents, and other
natives of standing, who were inyited from a distance.
Estimating as near as was practicable, I concluded that
the cost of what the Maharaja gave, including cash,
goods, and animals, was about 70,O0OZ.

The pair went at once to their new home, some twenty-
five miles from Jummoo, where there had been assigned
a jagir or estate for their maintenance.

BOUNDARIES. 69

CHAPTER IV.

REGION OF THE MIDDLE MOUNTAINS,

The hills described in the preceding chapters are but the
outer courts, so to say, roughly-paved courts it is true, of
the Himalayan fortress. Nor does the next tract belong
to those lofty heights and mountain masses, which may be
likened to its tower-encircled citadel. There is yet an
intermediate space, one whose hills possess a certain
character which the traveller at once notices, though
it may be some time before he is able to define the dis-
tinction. For this I have adopted the name '' Itegion of
the Middle Mountains."

The map, having been coloured for another special
object, cannot show clearly the boundaries, but for the
reader it will be enough to know that the region includes
the country around the following places: Bhadarwah,
Eishtwar, Doda, Bamban, Bajaori, Pdnch, and Muza-
farabad. The tract is as much as forty miles in width on
the east ; it lessens to ten miles by Bajaori, and spreads
again towards the north-west, where its bounds are some-
what indefinite.

This whole space is occupied by hills whose summits
are commonly eight, ten, or twelve thousand feet high,
and whose slopes are covered either with pasture or with
forest. It may be described as a hill mass cut into by
the deep hollows of the great rivers, and indented by

70 REGION OF THE MIDDLE MOUNTAINS.

innumerable valleys ramifying from them. From this
cause there is hardly one flat piece remaining, whether
plateau or valley-bottom. The form of the mountains
bears a great contrast to that of the Outer Hills. These
were sharp and rocky ridges more or less parallel, sepa-
rated by flat valleys ; the Middle Mountains on the other
hand we find to consist of ridges of varying irregular
direction, branching again and again, whose slopes, but
seldom rocky, lead down to narrow valleys closely bounded
in.

The elevation of these Middle Mountains is sufficient
to give a completely temperate character to the vegeta-
tion. Forests of Himalayan oak, of pine, spruce, silver
fir, and of deodar, occupy a great part of the mountain
slopes ; the rest, the more sunny parts, where forest trees
do not flourish, is, except where rocks jut out» well coveied
with herbage, with plants and flowers that resemble those
of Central or Southern Europe. And cultivation has been
carried to almost every place where it is practicable.
Wherever, within the altitude that limits the growth of
ci'ops, the slope of the ground has allowed of it, the
land has been terraced, and narrow little fields have been
made.

But that more temperate climate which makes summer
time so pleasant in this region limits also the productive
power of the soil. It is only in the lowest parts that two
crops can be got from the same land. The times of
growth of the two sorts of crops, of wheat and barley on
the one hand, and of maize, rice, or millet on the other,
in most places overlap each other to an extent which
varies with the height above the sea. Hence the wheat

THEIR TEMPERATE CLIMATE. 71

does not ripen till it is too late to sow maize or millet.
But some land being reserved for the first kind of crop
and some for the other, they have, in a sense, two
harvests.

Snow falls over all the tract. In the lower parts it just
falls and melts ; but in most it stays for months, and in
some as long as five mouths. It is this circumstance of
duration of snow that causes great distinctions between
the inhabitants of these and of the Outer Hills, some
details of which we shall presently look into.

I will now take the reader through one portion of this
Middle Mountain region, whose description will serve to
give him a true general idea of the whole. One year, after
a long sojourn at Jummoo, which made a change to the
higher regions more than usually welcome, I started in
the early summer for a long march, of which the first two
months were to be spent in that temperate clime. For in
the neighbourhood of a great range of mountains one can
move from a tropical heat to a temperature such as is
enjoyed by Europeans in a few score miles ; with a few
thousand feet of ascent one experiences such changes as
might be due to journeying through many degrees of
latitude.*

My route was by way of Bamnagar. A three days'
march from Jummoo, through the Outer Hills, brought
us to that town. Behind Bamnagar rises a bold ridge,
the first that belongs to the Middle Mountains.

* This* fact the English in India were not long in profiting by when
their authority extended to the Himalaya. On ground which corresponds
in character to the Middle Mountains, those well-known Hill stations,
Simla, MasCiri, Dalhousie, and Mari, were built, which every year give
relief to hundreds of our countrymen and women.

72 REGION OF THE MIDDLE MOUNTAINS.

The path — one not fit for horses — rose up a long spur
to the level of the ridge, which we crossed at a height of
about 8000 feet.

From the surface of the ridge and of the spurs rocks
here and there project, wliile the less steep portions are
covered partly with pasture and partly with forest; the
forest is of oak, with rhododendron and horse-chestnut
among it, and, higher up, of deodar and pine. At this
part and in the descent beyond, the general look of
the hills reminded me of the Black Forest of Germany,
of its darkly-wooded slopes and bare summits of the
higher mountains.

A path led down, into the upper valley of the Tavl
Elver, through a fine forest of spruce and silver fir (Pitea
Webbiana), and deodar-trees, with sloping glades of fresh
grass, dotted with the young trees in such fashion thai
one might have thought one was in a well-cared-for
shrubbery. In the valley we came to a village, on a fiat
surrounded close by the hills and shaded by walnut-trees ;
this is at a level of about 6600 feet; in a deep channel
some 200 feet below, the river foams along.

The path, which now kept to the valley, was among
deodar, silver fir, and spruce fir, with some pines of the
species Pinvs exceha ; each of these showed to perfection
the beauties of their foliage; the pine-needles hung in
light feathery sprays, the spruce boughs in graceful curves,
with which contrasted the almost geometrical regularity
of the silver-fir branches. The deodar, here, and wherever
on the Himalayas I have seen it, is much more like a
Lebanon cedar than the trees, still young, growing in

THE EIQEER VEGETATION. 73

England would lead one to suppose ; the bending form of
the boughs, as well as the particular light tint of green of
the leaves of the young plant, are lost as the tree gets on
in age, and the branches come to jut straight out and to
make flat dark-leaved layers.

Following up the valley, we came upon snow. It was
the beginning of May— hot summer in the plains and
Outer Hills, spring in the region just past, but we came,
as it were, to winter in rising ; and it was with difficulty
that we were able to find a space clear of snow on which
the tents might be pitched, the elevation of this camp
being 9500 feet.

We had now reached ground of somewhat different
character; On the north was an amphitheatre made by
rugged mountains of grey rock with snow-fields beneath ;
below the snow the amphitheatre enclosed a thick forest
of alpine oak. This I saw when the evening sun was
brightening the rounded masses of its foliage, from the
midst of which rose here and there the straight forms of
some dark fir-trees. The oak, Quereus demicarpifolia, is
at this point the highest forest tree. Unlike the conifers,
it flourishes on hills that have a south aspect ; it grows
certainly as high as 11,500 feet, and I think it reaches to
close on 12,000, while of the firs the limit was only a little
above 11,000 feet. The way led us to a part of the en-
circling ridge that was depressed, when a few hundred
feet of steeper ascent brought us to a pass 10,900 feet
above the sea. This pass is closed by snow for three
months from the middle of December ; later in the season
than we came it would be practicable for ponies, which.

74 REGION OF THE MIDDLE MOUNTAINS.

however, would have to be taken up the valley by a some-
what different road than ours.

The gaining of the summit opened to us a magnificent
prospect as we looked beyond. On the right was a high
peak, near at hand, brilliantly white with snow ; from this
mountain juts out a mighty spur, whose sides, that de-
scend full 5000 feet, are clothed most thickly with fir
forest. At its foot lies the Bhadarwah Valley, a flat
gently sloping to the north-west. The town and village
that occupy it are in sight. Beyond that again rise hills
like what we have near us, dark forest ridges, their spurs
part grassy, part wooded. Last beyond — seen clear over
these ridges — is a great snowy range, a serrated rocky Une,
with wide snow-fields in front of it, part of which is per-
manent snow. Some lofty sharp-pointed peaks rise from
the general level of the range, the higher of which
measure 17,000 and 18,000 feet.

Down from the pass was first a steep descent, which the
snow made difficult for the laden men, and then a more
gradual slope along a spur, through a forest of the same
sorts of conifers, which, farther down, gave way to deciduous
trees in their fresh spring coloui-s.

When we had descended more than 5000 feet we
reached the valley. This is a nearly flat-bottomed valley,
a mile in width ; in length it extends thus open for about
four miles, above and below narrowing so as to leave
hardly any space between the hill-slopes. The hills
which bound it are the ends of spurs from the forest
ridges. In this opening of the valley is the town of
Bhadarwah, which is a busy place, and, for a hill
country, a populous one. I estimate that there are 600

BHADABWAK 75

or 700 houses, and about 3000 inhabitants. It is built
almost entirely of deodar-wood; the framework of the
houses is altogether of wood; only between the double
plank-walls the spaces are filled in with stones, sometimes
laid loose and sometimes cemented with mud; most of
the houses have low gabled roofs roughly shingled.

Bhadarwah has an open market-place, a long straight
street leading to the Fort, two or three other bazaars, two
mosques, and a large temple. The waters of one of the
streams come through the middle of the town, and
branches from it are brought through all the streets. Both
in among the buildings and all round the place fruit-trees
are growing — ^apple, pear, mulberry, apricot, and cherry,
and there are poplars, and a few chinar or plane trees.

More than half of the inhabitants of Bhadarwah itself
are Kashmiri; these quite throw into the shade the
original Hindi! inhabitants ; they have adopted almost all
kinds of employment ; numbers of them are shopkeepers,
and numbers more are occupied in making shawls, on
orders from Amritsar and Nurpur. Some Kashmiris
have land, and cultivate it themselves ; some, indeed, do
this for half the year, and follow shawl-weaving for the
other half— during the long snowy winter. Around are
several villages of Kashmiris ; but outside the town,
they are much outnumbered by the Bhadarwahis, the
older inhabitants. Of these inhabitants of the Middle
Mountains I now propose to say something, before speak-
ing of any more places in particular. I shall call them
by the same name, " Pahart," which is given them by their
neighbours: for although the word, meaning "moun-
taineer," is itself indefinite, yet it is restricted by the

76 REGION OF THE MIDDLE MOUNTAINS.

Dogras to these particular races^ and as there is no
general name among the people themselves corresponding
to what I want to express, I do not think we can do better
than adopt it.

The Race Map shows the Paharis to extend over the
tract I have called the Middle Mountains only as far west
as Budil, by the Ans river ; as to the part of that tract to
the west and north-west, the people have already been
described under the head of Ghibhalts; the Muhamma-
danising of that country of Chibhal preventing us from
separating all the races that may have existed distinct in
former times.

The space, then, coloured Fah&rt on the Race Map, is
occupied by mountaineers who have remained Hind^
Over the whole of it the people have a general resem-
blance. They are a strong, hardy, and active race, of
good powerful frame. They have a straight forehead,
good brow, with a nose markedly hooked, especially
among the older men. Their black hair is allowed to
grow to their shoulders; their beard and mustache are
thickish, but the beard does not grow long.

The men all dress in a light grey thick woollen cloth,
which is made in almost every house.* In some parts
they wear a short coat, in others a long and full one,
bitched up by a kamarband, or waistband, of a woollen
sort of rope, wound many times round. Their pyjamas
are loose down to tlie knee, but below that fit close ; this
is a very good form for hill countrie8.t Lastly, a lui

* Pattii (puttoo) is the name for this coarse homespun cloth over all
the hills and in Kashmir.

t See the cut on page 78 of some men of an allied race (the GaddSs
mentioned below)* whose dress is the snme as that of these Pah&ris, except
as to the cap.

THEIR INHABITANTS. 77

(looee) or blanket, of the same cloth, worn in many ways,
according to the occasion, enables them to withstand all
tlie severe weather they are exposed to.

The women have a long gown of the same homespun,
and, like the men, wear a kamarband. In some parts the
gown is of nearly black cloth instead of grey. Sometimes
they wear a low round red cap.

The caste that among the Paharts prevails in numbers
far over others is the Thakar, which was mentioned as
occurring among the Dogras. The Thakars, indeed, have
nearly all the land in proprietorship; they cultivate for
the most part their own land ; they are the peasantry of
the mountains, as the JatB are of the Fanjab plain. The
low castes, D4m and Megh, are scattered about everywhere ;
they dress in the same way as the others, and have ac-
quired something of the same general appearance, but are
not such large men, nor have they as good countenances.

At the south-east end of this region, where it borders
on the Chamba country, there is a race called Graddls (or
Guddees), who seem to have come at some time or other
from the Chamba Hills. They are Hindfts, and have the
same subdivisions of caste as the others, but they do not
keep their caste rules so strictly. They possess large
flocks of sheep and herds of goats, and they migrate with
them to different altitudes according to the season. When
snow threatens on the higher pastures they descend,
coming in winter to the Outer Hills, and even to the edge
of the plains. In spring they turn their faces homeward,
and step by step follow the returning verdure, by June
reaching the highest pastures and the hamlets, where
some of the family had kept warm their home.

The relationship of these Gaddts to the other Paharis

78

BEGION OF THE MIDDLE MOUNTAINS.

cannot be a distant one. In phyeiqae they closely re-
semble the people we have described. It is likely that
whatever peculiarities they possess have been acqaiied
by specialisation of occupation through some centuries.

Id dress they have one striking peculiarity in their
hat, made of a stiff cloth, which is of a form indescrib-
able, but it is well shown in the accompanyiug cut

taken from a photograph. This gives a fair notion of
the features of the Gaddis, as well as of their dress,
which, as stated before in the note, is the same as that
of the Paharis, except as regards this peculiar hat.

A A

CHINAS RIVER, 79

As to the language of the Paharis; many separate
dialects are spoken ; every twenty miles or so will bring
you within hearing of a new one. Places no farther
apart than Kamban, Doda, Kishtwar, Padar, and Bhadar-
wah, have their own speech, which, though not incom-
prehensible to the people of the neighbouring place, still
is very distinct from theirs. Counting all these together
as Pahari dialects, we may say that between Pahari and
Dogii there is so much difference as to make Pahari in-
comprehensible to a man of Dugar.

From Bhadarwah I made my way, in four days' march,
to the town of Eishtwar, which lies not far from the bank
of the Chinab River.

The Chinab is one of the great rivers of the Panjab.
It rises in the country called Lahol, in two streams, the
Chandra and the Bhaga, the joining of whose names into
Chandrabhaga makes the word by which the combined
river is often known among Hmd4s. The other name
Chinab, which is more usual, has, I think, the derivation
that is so obvious and is commonly given to it, namely,
Chin-ab, the water of China, which name probably was
given by the Muhammadans from a notion — by no means
far from the truth — that it came from Chinese territory ;
for the sources of the river are very near to ground that
was tributary (though by two removes) to China, and the
tract it first flows through is inhabited by the Laholis,
who are allied to the Chinese in speech, look, and re-
ligion. The river enters the Jummoo territories in the
district called Padar, which we shall soon visit ; from its
entry it flows for a hundred and eighty miles through
such country as we have been describing, in a valley cut

80 REGION OF THE MIDDLE MOUNTAINS.

deep down in the mass of the Middle Mountains. I have
either crossed or touched it at yarioos points. At the
great bend near Arnas it begins to flow between steep
inaccessible rocks. At Bamban the Jnmmoo and Kashmir
road crosses by a wooden bridge of considerable span,
where the river is about 2400 feet above the sea. Jan-
gal war is the place at which, coming from Bhadarwah, one
reaches its banks; here the level of the water is about
3000 feet; a little farther up, the river comes through
a narrow gorge formed by massive rocks; abovSy the
valley opening, one approaches Kishtwar.

My first view of Eishtwar was from a commanding height.
The view pleased the eye by displaying a plain in the midst
of the mountains, not perfectly level, but undulating,
everywhere cultivated, dotted with villages. This plain,
which is about four miles in length from north to south and
two miles across, is bounded on three sides by mountains,
but on the west by a deep ravine where the river flows, the
farther bank of this again being formed by lofty rocky
mountains. The plateau is 5300 or 5400 feet above the
sea. Nearly all is under cultivation. The villages are
shaded by plane-trees and by fruit-trees; leading jfrom
one hamlet to another are hedge-rowed lanes, with white
and yellow and red rose, and other shrubs, in flower.
By the town is a beautiful piece of smooth, nearly level
turf, half a mile long and a furlong broad, called the
Chaugam, a place in former times kept for Polo playing,
for which the carved goal-stones still remain, but now
only common hockey is played on it. When one has been
travelling over rough roads in a mountain tract, and has
not for many days seen any level ground, the sight of such

EISHTWAR. 81

a plain as this of Eishtwar gives one peculiar delight;
the secluded space, so.well adorned with verdure and with
flowers, and enclosed by great mountains, has a pleasant
restful look.

One conspicuous and beautiful feature is made by a
waterfall of great height, which comes over the cliflFs on
the opposite side of the river. Of this fall it is impos-
sible to obtain a near and at the same time general view,
but by going some way down the slope we get a fair sight
of it, though at the distance of a mile or more. The
water comes down not in one but many jumps; the
aggregate height of the falls within view is about 2500
feet, and above these are a few hundred feet more, which
can be seen from other points. The first two falls are
each of about 500 feet; these are conspicuous from the
town ; below them are two or three small ones, making
up six or seven hundred feet more ; then there are
irregular drops and cascades, partly hidden by vegetation
and by the irregularities of the channel, these extending
for some eight hundred feet to the river ; thus the two
and a half thousand feet are made up.

In this waterfall there is every variety of movement
In the greater leaps the water — although in volume not
little, for the roar is distinctly heard at a distance of two
miles — becomes scattered into spray; again it collects
and comes over the next ledge in a thick stream ; in parts
it divides into various lines, which, at the distance, seem

*

vertical, immovable, white threads. In the morning sun
the spray made in the greater leaps shows prismatic
colours, visible even at the distance of our chosen point —
a phenomenon aUnbuted by the people of the place to

G

82 REGION OF THE MIDDLE MOUNTAINS.

fairies who bathe in and display the strange hues of their
bodies through the shower.

The small town of Kishtwar is dirty and dilapidated.
There are about two hundred houses, including a bazaar
with some shops; but there was a complete absence of
life, of the busy cheerfulness one sees in some bazaars.

The inhabitants are more than half Kashmiri ; the rest
are Hindus of the Thakar, Krar, and other castes. The
Kashmiris here, too, carry on theit shawl work ; there are
some twenty workshops for it in the town. In this place,
as in Bhadarwah, they seem to have settled for some
generations.

Tlie climate of Kishtw&r is something like that of
Bhadarwah, but it is somewhat warmer, and must have a
less fall of rain and snow. Snow falls during four months^
but it does not stay on the ground continuously ; it may
do so for twenty days at a time. On the slope towards
the river, 1000 or 1500 feet below, it stays but a day.
The fruits produced are apple, quince, three kinds of
pear, plum, a few apricots, cherry, peach, grape, mul-
berry, and walnut.

Kishtwar used to be governed by Bajpdt Bajas, who in
early times probably ruled independent of all others.

The first whose name I can hear of is llaja Bhagwan
Singh, who must have lived two hundred years or more
ago. Three generations later came Eaja Girat Singh.
This one left his old faith and became a Muhammadan,
being converted by the miracles of one Syed Shah Farid-
ud-Din, in the time of the Emperor Aurangzeb, who gave
him the new name and title of Kaja Sa'adat Yar Khan.

This change of religion determined tUe faith of all the

A_ A

KISHTWAR TO PADAR. 83

succeeding Bajas ; five more are recorded^ who, curiously,
received a name of the old Hindu fashion, and besides
took a title and name that marked them as Muham-
madans. The last independent Kishtwaii ruler was Eaja
Muhammad Teg Singh, called also Saif Ulla Khan. His
territory was invaded by Kaja Gulab Singh, to whom Teg
Singh gave himself up without fighting, and ever since
then Kishtwar has belonged to Jummoo.

Four days' march from Kishtwar along the Chinab
Valley brings us to Padar. On the way the heights to
which we had to rise, in order to avoid great cliffs that
overhang the river, gave us some of the grandest views I
had seen in the Himalayas.

We looked across tlie valley, sometimes with a clear
open view, sometimes getting peeps through the dense
forest, on to great broken cliffs or rocky slopes that rose
direct from the river for 6000 or 7000 feet ; these were
the ends of mighty spurs from the lofty ridge beyond,
which we sighted, as we passed along, looking up the
valleys that in succession opened between the spurs.

From one of the highest points reached, we saw as
great a vertical height within a few miles as one can
often see even in the Himalayas. The summit was
twelve miles off, and within that distance a height of
16,000 feet was visible. There rose a magnificent set of
peaks, called the Brama peaks — five points in a sharp
rocky ridge — 20,000 and 21,000 feet high ; some were so
steep as to bear little or no snow; some were thickly
clothed with it. A glacier occupied a hollow, and ex-
tended towards us for some miles, but ended off still
high up. The rocky ridges and precipitous spurs thai

84 REGION OF TEE MIDDLE MOUNTAINS.

lead down from the peaks are on a very great scale ; a
thousand-foot cliff would count for little among them.
At the lower part of the slopes, wherever a little ledge
has enabled the seed to lodge, deodar-trees crown the
rocks. The river washed the foot of the spurs at a level
of five or six thousand feet.

Passing on round mountain spurs on our own side, we
suddenly come into view of the inhabited part of Padar,
a number of villages occupying ground sloping to the
river, backed by lofty, wooded and snow-capped, hills.
The road brought us down to the level of these villages,
and then led us along the river-side for a few miles to
Atholi, which is the head-quarters of the district ; this is
situated on an alluvial plateau overlooking the Chtnab
River. The river is here bridged in a way that is often
adopted among these high mountains for the larger rivers,
namely, by a suspension bridge of simple construction.
First of all, a dozen or more ropes, more than long enough
for the span, are made of twisted twigs, commonly of the
birch, but other trees or shrubs are used as well ; each
of these ropes, rough, with the cut ends of the twigs pro-
jecting, is of such thickness that it can just be spanned
with the finger and thumb. These are collected into
three groups, each group of four or more ropes loosely
twisted together; one of these cables is hung across
for one's footing ; the other two, a yard above it, one on
each side, are for the passenger to steady himself. The
passage of these rope bridges is usually not difficult ; still,
for some people, the seeing a torrent roaring beneath the
feet, with only a few twigs for support, is nervous work;
when, with a bridge of large span, there is a high wind

CLIMATE OF PADAB, 85

that sways it to and fro, it is really difficult to those
unused, and even to those used to the work if they have
to eaiTy a load. Traffic is sometimes stopped for some
hours by reason of the wind.

It will be understood that four-footed beasts cannot
cross these bridges ; ponies are sometimes swum over,
aided by a rope held by a man who leads it across the
bridge. This is a dangerous business for the animals,
and it often leads to losses, for one mistake or a little
hesitation will cause them to be drowned. I have
met with one exception to the rule of four-footed animals
not crossing rope bridges. I knew a dog that commonly
followed his master over them ; it was a spaniel of English
extraction ; he would deliberately, slowly, walk along the
rough twig-ropes, steadying himself at every step ; even
when the bridge was swaying in the wind he never lost his
nerve.

Such a bridge as this is renewed every three years, if
before that it is not carried away by any unusual flood.*

The climate of Padar is severe. From its elevation,
and the considerable moisture of its air, there is a great
fall of snow in winter. I hear that snow gets to be three
feet deep and stays four or five months, and that there is
a good chance of it falling at unseasonable times besides.
This and a want of sun make it difficult for the crops to

* Id some parts of the Ghin&b Valley another sort of bridge is in use ;
it is called Chika^ which may be translated ** haul-bridge " ; a smooth rope
of several strands is hung across, and on this traverses a wooden ring,
from which hangs a loop in which you seat yourself; by another rope
the ring and all are pulled across ; down the curve tlie passage is quick,
but the pulling up is a slow process, sometimes interrupted by the break-
ing of the hauling rope, when the passenger is left swinging in the
middle.

86 REGION OF THE MIDDLE MOUNTAINS.

ripen. The sunshine is intercepted, not only by the
clouds that the mountains attract, but also by the
mountains themselves, which shut in the valley so closely.
At Atholi I found that the average angular elevation of
the visible horizon — that is, of the mountain summits all
round — was 18°. This want of sunshine affects the fruits^
which do not ripen well, though some fruit-trees, especially
walnut-trees, are common.

The district we are now in is one of those where deodar
forests occur in such positions as make it practicable to
fell the trees for timber, for use in the Fanjab. The
necessary condition is that the slope on which the trees
grow should be so near a large stream that without an
extreme amount of labour the logs can be moved or slid,
without fear of splitting, into the water, where they will
float away down the stream.

In the course of years the most favourably situated
deodar forests in the Chiuab Vallev have been felled, and
there now remain chiefly trees which either are of a less
girth than can be used to the best advantage, or are at such
a distance from the stream-bank that the transport of the
logs to the water is difficult, or, may be, would involve a
prohibitory expense. What was considered a good tree
was one whose girth, a few feet above the ground, would
be not under nine feet, and whose height, for useful
timber, was sixty or seventy feet ; now in the forests we
passed through, from Kishtwar hither, the common girth
was five or six feet only.

The plan is to fell the tree with axes, and cut it into
logs, of length varying, according to the use the timber
is to be put to, from ten feet to twenty or more, and

FELLING DEODAR'TREEB. 87

to mark them in some distinctive way. The logs are
then rolled or slid down the hill-side, or down some
small ravine of regular slope, to the river. This work is
done in the spring and early summer — or if deferred
till the autumn, it would be but in preparation for the
next year — so that, on the rising of the river from the
snow melting, in May, June, July, and August, the logs
may float away. In spite of some of them becoming
stuck on the rocks or stranded on the shore, a good many
will find their way through the mountain country to
where the river debouches into the plains. What is done
with them there we shall see when we come to Akhnur,
on our march to Kashmir.

Although nearly all the easily-reached deodar-trees of
large size have been cut down, there still remain, in the
valleys of the Chinab and its tributaries, forests that may
be made available by longer slides; and there are
besides, in places very accessible, numbers of trees which,
though not of full size, will yet produce much useful
timber.

The people of Padar are in great part Thakars. There
are also some low-caste people, chiefly of the Megh caste ;
of these there is an entire village near the fort. There
are a few Muhammadans who probably are converted
Thakars. The Thakars have just those characteristics by
which we described the Paharis generally.

Besides the Hindis and Muhammadans, there are two
or three hamlets towards the head of Bhutna, eleven
houses in all, inhabited by Bhots or Buddhists from
Zanskar, on the farther side of the great range. I here
only mention their occurrence; the characters of that

88 REGION OF THE MIDDLE MOUNTAINS.

Tibetan race they belong to will be given farther on,
under the heading of Ladakh.

The people of Padar seem a good deal given to serpent
worship; they do not, however, separate it from their
observance of the rites of the Hindd religion ; the serpent
is reckoned among the many devtas or gorls recognised by
that faith ; one sees temples raised to different ndff devtas^
or serpent-gods, which are adorned with wood-carvings of
snakes in many forms.

In approaching PRdar we really passed beyond the
Middle Mountain region and came among mountains too
lofty to be classed in it. Having come thus far, a few
more words may be allowed, to tell of the ending of the
valley we have been following. That of the main river
continues, through a country closely resembling that part
of Padar we have looked at, till the British territory is
reached. A branch valley called Bhutna leads up north-
eastward to the main suowy ridge ; the successive figures
on the map, from 6 to 15, which denote thousands of
feet of elevation, show that the valley bottom rises with
an increasing slope.

The highest village of any size in the Bhutna Valley is
Machel (9700 feet above the sea), two marches, or twenty-
two miles, from Atholi. At Machel Bhots predominate,
though there are a few families of Hindds. The Bhots
seem to have been for long settled in this upper end of
the valley. The highest inhabited place of all is Sunj&m,
half a march beyond ]\Iachel ; here is but one household,
of Bhots, a hardy family ; they are confined within doors
by the snow for seven months in the year. We were

BHUTXA VALLEY, 89

there on the 7th June and the snow had melted from the
fields abont a month before.

As we ascended the valley, the vegetation gradually
diminished ; at Machel the mountain side had become
much barer ; there were some stunted deodars, but at a
height of 9800 feet the growth of that tree altogether
ended; spruce and silver fir continued farther; birch,
which had at first appeared at 8000 feet, grew higher
than all the others. The last limits of forest trees that I
observed, still along the valley, were 12,000 feet for
silver fir and 12,500 feet for birch ; but this was counting
the last straggling trees.

At Sunjam, 11,000 feet, they sow wheat, peas, buck-
wheat, and the kind of barley called grim (the grain of
which becomes loosened from its husk like the grain of
wheat) which I shall hereafter call "naked barley."
Often the wheat does not ripen, but they sow some every
year for the chance. Sometimes the whole harvest fails,
and then they have to go to the Kishtwar country for
grain, taking down sheep to exchange.

Beyond Sunjam is nothing but a waste of streams and
bare mountains, of glaciers and of snow. But through it
all a way will lead, by a diflRcult snowy pass, to Ladakh.
By this pass I took my camp, but I do not ask the reader
to follow me ; the account of Ladakh must be deferred,
and that country Avill be approached from another direc-
tion. Another country, not less interesting, must now have
our attention.

90 THE MARCH TO KASHMIR.

CHAPTER V.

THE MARCH TO KASHMIR.

Before commencing a description of Kashmir, which is
the next country to be yisited, I propose to give an
account of one of the routes leading to it, for the sake
of connecting in the reader's mind those parts which up
till now we have dwelt on, with the countries bevond.

The three chief routes from the Panjab to Sirmagar, the
capital of Kashmir, are the following. First, the direct
road from Jummoo by Banihal ; this is much frequented
by traders, and has the advantage of being free from snow
for more months of the year than some others; but it
is not open to the English traveller on account of the
diflSculty in procuring along it the number of porters
for <5arriage which the visitors to Kashmir require ; it is
indeed a way with many ups and downs, and by no means
a good road. Secondly, from Bhimbar by the P!r Panjal
Pass ; this is the one commonly traversed by Englishmen,
they following the steps of the Delhi Emperors, who
yearly made the journey with their huge camps ; other-
wise, this cannot be called a good road, but for scenery
it surpasses all the others. The third, from the British
Hill-station Mari, is the best kept road of all, and the
natural obstacles are less than in the others; the tra-
veller must consider whether for these considerations he
will make the detour to Mari, a place that can be reached

NATIVE TRAVELLERS. 91

on wheels. Our t)wn route v^ill be, starting from Jummoo,
to raake a cross cut of some five marches to join the
Bhimbar route at the town of Bajaori, and thence to
proceed by the Pir Panjal.*

A few words before starting, as to certain specialities of
travelling in the Himalayas,

The natives of India are good travellers. The poor
man, one who gets his living by the use of his muscles^
will make a bundle of his extra clothes (if he has any),
of his bedding and his cooking -pots, and with that
balanced on his head or slung over his shoulder, will
make a long march without asking anything of anyone,
except of the shopkeeper from whom he will buy his
daily allowance of flour or rice. The class above him,
those who get, say, their living by their pen, or by buying
and selling, will surely have a pony for the march, pro-
bably a quiet, useful animal, one that ambles along at
an easy pace ; the bedding will be laid in folds on the
saddle, and the rest of the baggage will be carried on the
pummel or else made fast behind. Such a traveller, with
his one servant running along at a jog-trot by his side,
will be independent of porters or baggage-animals; he
will do his march in his own time, and be satisfied at
the end of it with any accommodation he can get — that
of the mosque if he be a Muhammadan, of the Dharmsala
if he be a Hindu, or, in some cases, of the more general
rest-house ; or, in default of all of these, he will get the

* Some useful information 'about those routes which are open to Euro-
pean travellers will be found in Dr. Ince's * Kashmir Handbook * (published
by Wyman Brothers, Calcutta) ; and in Kashmir itself that book wiU be
found very useful.

92 THE MARCH TO KASHMIR.

shelter of some cottage — freely given to a civil application
— and there make himself at home.

It is different with the Englishman in India. His
wants are not few, nor his demands either. Accustomed
to numerous attendants, and to a complication of domestic
appliances, he goes on the principle, when travelling, of
taking with him such a large proportion of these as will
give almost every comfort, except what the Tariations of
cold and heat make imattainable, even in the wildest and
most outrof-the-way parts. There is no doubt that to do
this increases the difficulty and the trouble of marching ;
every diminution of impedimenta will make it so much
the easier to get along. A traveller in the hills who
requires but a few porters for his baggage will be so
much more independent of set routes and of the local
authorities as to have an absence of trouble that will
counterbalance the loss of a good many material comforts.

The usual fit-out that we Englishmen carry with us
in these hills consists of a tent, carpet, bedstead, table,
chairs, bedding, clothes, and other paraphernalia ; this
for one's own tent. In the servants' departments there
will be at least another tent, cooking things, plates,
washing and ironing things, eatables, and beverages to
any extent that one may choose to provide them, stable-
gear, and various other things that each servant is sure
to see himself provided with for his own particular work.
These, with the addition of the bedding and clothes of
half-a-dozen or more servants, make up a good amount
of luggage to be carried, as it mostly has to be, on coolis'
backs.

Very moderately provided after this plan one will

AN ENOLISHMAN'S CAMP. 93

require some twenty coolis for porters. If one lays in
stores for a march of some months, it will want great
care and a stem though discriminating rejection of the
unnecessary, to keep the number from running up to fifty
or more.

With regard to carriage, it is the universal practice
for an Englishman, or for any native of rank who may
get a special order from the Maharaja, to take the coolis
or ponies from stage to stage, changing them, getting fresh
men or animals from the villages round, for each day's
march.

Coolis are the chief carriers ; for these 50 lb. to 60 lb.
is a fair load. The daily pay for a cooli is four annas,
that is sixpence; for a pony or mule twice as much.
The coolis carry their loads in various ways. In the
Outer Hills they carry them on their heads, first making
a soft bed with their turbans ; this certainly is not the
best way for difficult ground ; farther up, in the Middle
Mountains, the people often carry the weight on their
shoulders, bending their head forward and fixing the
load on the shoulder and back of the neck. But the
most business-like way of all is that followed by the
Kashmiris, some of the Paharis, the I^adakhis, and the
Baltic, of loading the back by means of a light frame-
work of sticks and rope, which is suspended from the
shoulders.

Thus prepared with baggage and porters, we will now
start from Jummoo for the journey to Kashmir; the
distance is one hundred and eighty-four miles, which will
be covered in fourteen days, a day's march varying com-
monly from nine to fifteen miles.

94 THE MARCH TO KASHMIR.

akhnOb, 95

From Jummoo to Aklinur is one day's march of eighteen
mihes. The road is altogether in the plain. After the first
few miles we emerge from the forest which surrounds the
city and find ourselves well clear of the hills as well,
with the view unconfined by the lower ranges. We see
in one glance a great length of the mountains that lie
between us and Kashmir, extending on the right. The
folded isometric view at the end of the book will give the
reader some idea of what ranges are now visible. The
two or three low lines of hill are those of the outer tract,
the gaps in them showing where some river from behind
breaks through the line. The hills between five and ten
thousand feet of height are the Middle Mountains, which
seem to the eye but one ridge. Behind is the great Panjal
Eange, a line of mountains reaching above 15,000 feet, that
cuts ofi* the country of Kaslimir from all that we have
yet visited. Though these mountains do not bear per-
petual snow, in the early summer they show both rocky
peaks and snowy ones projecting from fields of white
snow ; in front of them the Middle Mountains show dark
with forest, while the outermost low ridges, the rocky
character of their inner faces hidden, make a green fore-
ground.

The road goes on, a well-frequented one, traversed by
both carts and camels, over a fairly cultivated plain of
rather dry soil, until we come to the low bank of the
Chinab River, and, looking across it, we see the town and
fort of Akhniir.

The river at this early summer-time is swollen with the
melting snows. Every day of bright sunshine on the
higher mountains makes itself felt in raising the level of

96 TEE MARCH TO KASHMIR.

•

the water and increasing the force of the current. The
passage across by the ferry-boat comes to be a serious
matter ; scores of people, who had been waiting hours for
the opportunity, rush in on her coming to the bank, and
with the cattle, ponies, and camels that have been forced
on board over the bulwarks, soon fill her to over-crowding.
When she puts off, weighed down and unmanageable as
she is, the force of the current carries her a good half
mile away in crossing the few hundred yards. Then,
emptied of her freight, the boat is laboriously tracked
np again for another trip. Two such journeys each way
is as much as can be done in the day's work.

The appearance of Akhndr from the left bank of the
river is striking. The chief object is the fort, of which a
sketch is given. It is a building of lofty walls crowned
with battlements of the same form as one sees in the
Mughal forts throughout Hindost&n. Formerly the for-
tress of a tributary chief, it is now occupied by troops
of the Maharaja.

The town is built on a terrace above the river, which is
overlooked by a few houses of the better sort, while the
part behind is mean and dirty.

Akhnur is a place where timber from the mountains,
that floats down the river, is caught and stored. This is
a business that brings much employment and gain to the
people. In the last chapter we saw how, far back in the
mountains, the deodar-trees were felled and cut up, and
the logs rolled down to the edge to await the rising of the
river. It is in May that they begin to come down. No
further care has been taken of them ; they are left, in the
first instance, to take their own chance of finding their way

TIMBER CATCHING. 97

down that long distance of from one hundred and fifty to
two hundred miles.

From Eiasi, twenty miles above Akhnur, to a place as
far below it, this forty miles is the space along which the
logs are caught and brought to land. Nearly the whole
population of the places along the river bank, people of
almost every caste, occupy themselves in the work, for it
comes at a time when farm-work is slack. The plan is to
provide what is called a sama^ a goat-skin blown out
tight, with the end of the leg by which it was inflated
fastened up with a bit of string ; to the hind legs are
attached loops through which the man puts his bare legs,
and the stiff inflated goat-skin comes up in front of his
chest ; then, jumping into the river, the man balances
himself on the sama, lying almost flat along it ; by aid of
his hands and a peculiar motion of his feet he can swim
along at a fine rate, and fears not to trust himself to the
waves and the rapids of the swollen river. Standing at
a spot whence he knows the current will force him out
to mid-channel, he waits till a log of timber comes oppo-
site him, and, dashing in, he soon reaches it, and then,
by the exertion both of force and skill, guides it to a
sheltered nook where it may be landed and hauled up.

There are some thirty stations for this work within the
space mentioned, including several in the branch channels
below Akhnur. A log that passes the upper ones will
pretty surely be caught below ; even at night, between
the late summer evening and the early dawn, the timber
can hardly get through the whole space before some early
bird is down upon it to bring it in.

In this way thousands of logs arc caught every season ;

H

98 TEE MARCH TO KASHMIR,

20,000 logs, belonging to the Maharaja's Forest Depart-
ment, have been secured in one year ; these would average
20 or 25 cubic feet of timber, and would have a value of
more than 20,000Z.

Collected at Akhniir, the timber is either sold there
or made up into rafts, of fifty or sixty logs, of which the
lower course of the river will allow the passage, and floated
down some fifty miles, to Wazirabad, on the Grand Trunk
Boad, whence it will be distributed over the Panjab.

Now we must leave the gay scene of the swift river,
dotted over with the swimmers on their strange-looking
steeds, riding in pursuit of the logs — all which we can see
beautifully from the windows of the Baradaii on the
summit of the fort — and face the burning sun for another
march. Five hot marches await us over ground of one
general character, over the rough country of the Outer
Hills.

The road soon reaches the outermost range and enters
it by a stony valley. The hills are covered with a brush-
wood forest, which harbours undisturbed many a peacock,
whose scream sounds strange in conjunction with the
voice of the cuckoo, who also at this time here makes
himself heard, for our journey is made in early summer.
After a bit we rise to the level of a broken plateau
that occupies the space between the outermost ridge and
the ridge of Kalithar, which is one of the boldest lines of
hill in the district ; the road goes through a little nick
in the edge of it, and then winds, or zigzags, down its
steep escarpment, to a wide dun, beyond which is another
mass of hills, lower and more varied in form, covered
all over with scrub.

HIND t P UBLIC'E USES. 99

At this time of the year the ground is dry, and all the
way from Akhnur the road has been hot and thirst-
bringing. A good charitable custom of the Hindus
brings relief to the traveller. On many a spot in the
hottest part, perhaps at the summit of one of the steep
rises of the uneven road, will be found a hut where cool
water kept in clean porous vessels is at the service of any
who may ask for it. The man in charge is probably a
Brahman, so that people of every caste can take water
from his hands ; he may have been placed there by some
well-to-do HindA, whose piety prompts him to this good
work. It is the Brahman's business to bring the water
from the nearest stream, which may be a long walk oflF,
and distribute it to wayfarers. When the rains come and
water is to be found in every pool and little stream, the
establishment will be no longer kept up.

Threading our way through the hills for three days
more, at last we got clear of them, and come into the
valley of the Western or Minawar Tavi, which is at this
time a stream of moderate Tolume flowing over ridges of
rock, often making deep pools between them, which are
very favourable to the fisherman. Continuing up the
valley by the left bank of the river, between low spurs of
the hills, in a few miles we come opposite to the town
of Rajaori. An old royal garden, opposite the town, has
become the halting-place for travellers, chiefly for the
English. We have here come into the Bhimbar route
to Sirinagar frequented by them, and from this place
onwards our own road coincides with it.

As was before said, this route is also the one by which
the Mughal Emperors used to journey to Kashmir in the

100 THE MABCH TO KASHMIR,

palmy days of their rule. The French traveller Bemier
has given a life-like description of the progress, as
witnessed by him in the reign of Aurungzeb.* Now it is
difficult to imagine the quiet villages and halting-places
filled with the crowds of courtiers and their followers as
they were when the wealth and grandeur of India that
had been concentrated at Delhi flowed each year by this
route to Kashmir. Still we have some remains of that
time in the saraes or rest-houses that were built at every
stage for the shelter of the camp. These, though large,
could accommodate at one time but a fraction of those
attached to the emperor's Court who had a claim to such
shelter. Hence the camp marched in sections; day by
day a fresh portion started from Bhimbar, and the move
being made through the whole length at once, the
travellers successively found room at each stage.

At Bhimbar, which is at the foot of the hills, there
was a greater variety and extent of accommodation
provided than at most of the stages, for here the camp
used to concentrate. In the higher part of the town of
Bhimbar, there is a sarae built of brick and sandstone, a
square of about 300 feet.

I do not think this sarae was intended for the king
himseK, for there are no rooms larger than the rest.
Down in the plain, where the present Travellers' Bun-
galow is, are remains of what I have little doubt was
his own halting-place. There was a square enclosure
(traceable by a few remnants of the wall) ; in the centre

* A sketch of the route and of Kashmir (taken from Bemier's account
and my own) will be found in * Bevae de France/ Nos. 56 and 57, article
'' Le Boyaume de Cachemire au 17me et au 19me si^le," by Baron
Emouf.

IMPERIAL BEST-PLACES.

101

of one side of it was a suite of rooms raised above the
level of the ground, with a terrace in front ; there were
other buildings in the middle of the two next sides of
the square ; in the centre was a chabutra or platform :
close at hand was a hamdm, a small building in three

Sa*t

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^

^

3 C

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If

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A

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D

3 C

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ROUQH PLAN OF THE SAR£e AT SAIDIbJLo.

compartments, with an opening in the roof of each, made
for the escape of the steam of the hot bath. These I
believe to have been the royal quarters.

The first stage from Bhimbar was Saidabad. Here is
the finest example of all the royal saraes. A rough plan
of it is given above.

102 THE MARCH TO KASHMIR.

It has three divisions ; the great court A, is entered by
the chief gateway; on all sides of this quadrangle are
small arched or vaulted rooms, and, besides, in the middle
of the south side is a set of three larger rooms on a higher
level, marked d. These are now unroofed ; I think
there had- been an upper story above them; they were
doubtless the king's rooms. From these a small passage, e,
leads to a corresponding set of rooms, /, which, with a
terrace in front of them, look on to the second court-
yard, B. This must have been the zanana, or the ladies'
apartments, and their private garden; this quadrangle
has no cells round it ; the wall is plastered smooth inside.
A third courtyard, C, not communicating with the others,
has along each side of it a row of double cells, g marks
the position of a small mosque.

The sarae is massively built, and the vaulting has
stood well. The third court is still used by travellers,
but the two larger ones are empty, and the ground has
been brought under the plough.

The next stage towards Kashmir is Nauahahra^ where
is a large old sarae, with inner court. Then comes
Changas. This place I have never myself been to. I am
told that it possesses one of the finest of the saraes in the
whole of the route.

Next comes Eajaori, which we left to make the digres-
sion. Here the emperor's rest-place was the garden
before mentioned,* on the left bank of the stream ; it is a
large oblong space, enclosed by a thick wall, and tra-
versed by two stone water-ways at right angles to each

* la this garden are some fine chin&r or plane trees ; the altitude, about
3200 feet, seems the lowest at which they wUl flourish.

A A A

BAJAORI, 103

other. There are two baradaris, that is, bungalows or
summer-houses, one of which overlooks the stream, and
looks on to the picturesque old town on the opposite bank.

Thus, at most or all of the stages on to Kashmir, are
some remains — sometimes but ruins — of the royal rest-
places.

The town of Eajaori shows a front to the river of large
stone buildings, some of them ruinous. Besides the
imperial works, are edifices of diiferent sorts raised by the
former Muhammadan Rajas of Eajaori,* who were Mu-
hammadanised Eajputs. For it must be understood that
the Delhi Emperors, though having their road to Kashmir
through this part, still left the country in the hands of
the native Rajas, who were bound to do all they could to
facilitate the royal journeys and the transmission of the
loads of fruit from Kashmir to the Delhi Court. The
Bhimbar Raja held his country on the same terms.

Eajaoii has one conspicuous building raised by its last,
the present, rulers, A large temple, elevated on a rock
by the river, shows to all that Hindii power has again
spread thus far west. As another sign of this, the Dogras
liave changed the name of the place to Bdrnpur, thus
designating it after one of their gods ; this new name
has displaced the old in official dealings, but not in the
mouths of the commonalty.

After Rajaori there still remain eight marches before
the capital of Kashmir is reached. We have hitherto
been among the outer, lower, hills, but in the next few
marclies we shall cross the middle and higher ranges.

* Probably these regions are the only part of India where Muhamma<Ian
rulcra have borne the title of Raja.

104 TEE MARCH TO KASHMIR.

To do this, we first go north, to Baramgalla, and then
march east, to Shupeyan. This direction can be traced
also on the isometric view ; the 8000 feet ridge (see the
scale at the two ends) being crossed in a line leading
from the spectator, the foot of the Fir Panjal is reached,
when the traveller changes direction to the right and gets
through the great range by an easterly road.

In the first march, from Eajaori to Thanna, we keep for
fourteen miles in the same valley, following up the
stream. The ground of the valley is all terraced and
made into rice-fields, which at this time are flooded with
water led from the stream in preparation for the sowing,
which will be done a week or two later. The valley is
closely bounded by spurs of hills, which change their look
as we near the end of the march, for we then get among a
higher class of hills, such as we have all along called
the " Middle Mountains."

In the march from Thanna to Baramgalla we go over
the Ratan Pir or Pass. It is a good steep pull to reach
the summit, which is 8200 feet above the sea ; there is
hardly any depression in the ridge at that spot. On some
of the slopes the mountain is thickly covered with forest, a
forest of much variety and beauty. Box grows here
largely ; it is cut and sent to the towns, where it is mostly
used for making combs. On the higher parts of the
ridge one meets with numbers of the great black and gi'ey
monkey, called langur.

From the Katan Rr one looks north and north-eastward
on to the Panjal Bange, and obtains grand views of its
mountains. The descent also gives beautiful prospects,
both of near forest views and of the more distant hills.

THE PANJAL PASS. 105

The road is rough and diflScult; cue's pony, that was
useful for the ascent, had best be allowed to go down the
hill without a rider.

Baramgalla, which is the halting-place, is in the valley
of the stream that rises near the Pir Panjal, and with
many others goes to form the Punch Eiver. It is shut in
closely by spurs of the mountains.

The next march, to Poshiana, is along the bottom of
the narrow valley, among the large rounded stones of the
stream-bed, for the hill-sides are steep, so the traveller
must keep close to the river, which has to be crossed about
thirty times, as it nears alternately the right and left
bounding cliflfs. A series of little wooden bridges are pre-
pared, which are good enough for foot-passengers and for
an unladen horse, but ought not to be ridden over. At
last we leave the bottom of the valley and rise by a
steep ascent on the north, of some hundreds of feet, to
Poshiana, a small village, the highest in the valley ; it is
inhabited by Kashmiri

The march from Poshiana to Aliabad leads us over the
chief Pass. The road first contours to the base of the
valley, and then ascends a steep hill-side to the gap.

In thus rising, we go through the stages of fir and birch
wood, and come to where the slopes are grassy, and the
hills above are of rock and fallen stone, with many snow-
beds remaining yet unmelted. The Pass itself is 11,400
feet above the sea.

One time that I came here I found the ground, and the
snow for two or three miles distance, strewn with dead
locusts, which about the middle of May had been destroyed
by the cold in an attempted invasion of Kashmir.

106 THE MARCH TO KASHMIR,

Between the Pass and Aliabad there intervene some
miles of very gradual descent. From Aliabad to Hirpur,
the next stage, the road makes an irregular descent of
more than 2500 feet, over rough, and in wet weather
slippery, ground. The hills rise up boldly from the bed
of the stream (which here, of course, flows towards the
valley of Kashmir) for some thousands of feet. Often
broken by rock and cliflf, elsewhere covered by forests of
pine, spruce, and silver fir, they rise above where these
can grow and show an unusually great extent of ground
covered with birch-trees.

The stream, which flows a little north of east, receives
other mountain-streams from both sides, and becomes an
unfordable torrent. Descending and crossing it by a
bridge we come to comparatively level ground, clear of
the steep mountains. For the next few miles our way is
along a charming woodland path where the ground is
covered with wild flowers, among them violet, strawberry,
forget-me-not, and buttercup, and the fir-wood is varied
with many trees and shrubs in bloom.

The hills on each side get lower, and as we near Hirpdr
we find ourselves between what, as compared with the
mountains, are mere banks that frame, rather than con-
fine, the view, and let us see a portion of the long-looked-
for country of Kashmir.

We look across the vale on to a mass of mountains
connected with the great snowy range that bounds
Ladakh. One knows not how to call it — a wall of
mountain — a serrated ridge — a rugged-edged mountain-
mass ; none of these express what one sees if after the
first glance one looks, when the light may favour us,

VIEW OF THE VALLEY. 107

carefully to find out the details of what comes to view.
The nearest spurs are twenty-five miles oflf ; they can
hardly be distinguished from out the mass, though they
project far in front of it. Behind them, nearly forty
miles off, is a distincter mass of dark mountains which are
some 12,000 feet in height ; their projecting spur-slopes
and the ravines alternating with them can even at this
distance bo made out. Above this dark mass we see a
great extent of pure white snow-covered ground, from out
of which rise great snowy peaks. One of these that stood
prominent was fifty miles away, and some points within
our view were nearly seventy.

This was the first great view of Kashmir. But when
we reached Shapeyan, the next stage eight miles on, we
came to where we could look back, and on, and all round,
and still see mountains without a break encircling the
vale. The range we had passed through with days of
labour seemed strangely near ; it bore great snow-beds,
with bold rocky peaks projecting as it were through
them ; in front were dark forest-covered slopes. Opposite
was the same great line of mountains we had seen from
Hirpur. The bounding hills of the far ends of the valley,
seen only at times of clear atmosphere, completed the
ring-barrier of Kashmir.

From Shapeyan, Sirinagar lies north twenty-seven miles
distant, a two days' journey. The road is now nearly
level, only some low flat-topped hills are crossed. On
each side fine prospects of the mountains extend ; on the
left, of the forest-clad hills overtopped by peaks of rock
and snow : on the right, the farther mountain-range that
lies beyond the plain ; but in parts the road is among

108 THE MABCH TO KASHMIR.

the village groves where the eye, not reaching to the
mountains, is content with the nearer homely beauties of
shady plane or walnut trees, and wild rose-bushes luxu-
riant in their bloom. As we cross the last of the low
hills we look from that higher ground over the low flat,
and can see where Sirtnagar is situated ; the position of
it is marked by two isolated hills, one of them surmounted
by an ancient temple, the other crowned with the buildings
of a fort. The last few miles of our ride are across the
flat, between rows of tall poplars. We reach the city at
the bridge that is the highest up of seven that span the
river. As we cross it and see the boats plyii^g up and
down, the houses crowded on to the river bank, of
irregular form and varied construction, whose low-sloping
roofs with their wide eaves throw deep shadows, the spiry
pinnacles of mosques, and the bulging domes of temples,
at once we know that in this high valley a busy city exists
of unusual aspect and rare picturesqueness.

KASHMIR. 109

CHAPTER VI.

KASHMIR*

The country of Kashmir has jastly a reputation for some*
thing distinctiye, if not unique^ in its character. Its
position and form together are such that there is no
parallel to it in the whole of the Him&layas. It is a wide
vale enclosed by mountain ranges, lying at such a height
above the sea as on the one hand to be of a climate
entirely different from that of India, being saved from
the heat that parches its plains, and on the other hand to
be free from the severity of cold that visits the more lofty
plateaus of wide valleys that are found nearer to the
centre of the mass of mountains.

An irregular oval ring encloses Kashmir. Measuring
from summit to summit of the mountains, we find the
length to be 116 miles, and the width to vary from forty
to seventy-five miles; while the part, comparatively low
and flat, which is called the Yale, measures about eighty*
four miles from the north-west to south-east, and twenty
or twenty-five miles in a cross direction, and has an area
something more than that of the county of Kent

The mountain ridges which thus surround Kashmir
vary much in height. The loftiest points are on the
north-east side, where some peaks rise to close on 18,000
feet. At the two ends 12,000 to 14,000 feet are common
heights. On the south-west the great Panj&l Bange for a

110 KASHMIR,

length of some eighty miles separates Kashmir from the
Panjab. The vale itself varies in level from 6000 or
7000 feet down to 5200 feet. In entering it from the
Panjab one ascends perhaps 10,000 feet and descends but
5000; thus it is a plain embedded, or set high, in the
mountain mass.

There is but one gap in the barrier. Towards the
north-west end of the valley, the drainage waters of the
inside slopes of the hills, having collected into one great
stream, flow out by an extremely narrow valley and flow
in it for long before they reach the open plain of the
Panjab. In their course of 190 miles they will fall
through 4000 feet of vertical height. The stream is
navigable as long as it flows in the open valley of
Kashmir, from the town of Islamabad, where many
streams unite, till the gorge before mentioned is reached.
This river may be called the Jhelam, after the name
given to the same waters lower down ; the natives of the
country call it the Behat or Vehat ; an older name, still
used by those of them who follow Sanskrit b'terature, is
Vedasta.

By its banks lies a flat plain, extending along the
north-east side of the valley for more than fifty miles,
with a width varying from two or three to fifteen miles.
This plain is just like the alluvial flats that make the
meadow-lands by the side of our English streams ; its
surface has been formed, as theirs has been, by deposition
of sediment on the water overflowing the banks at flood-
time ; here, however, it has not been kept in meadow, but
has to a great extent been brought under the plough.
The river, winding through it, is much used for naviga-

TEA VEILING BY BOAT. HI

tiou ; it is the great highway of the country. The goods
that come from India by the Jummoo road, over the
Banihal Pass, are brought by land carriage — by coolis,
ponies, or bullocks, as it may be — as far as Kanebal;
thence boats take them to Sirinagar. The boats float
down with the stream at the rate of a mile and a half or
two miles an hour. The course of the river is winding ;
often it touches tlie rocky spurs on its right bank ; again
turning oflF it may near the plateaus that on the opposite
side bound the flat. When one has had many days of
rough marching, over roads where every footstep has to
be looked to, how enjoyable is the change to the smooth
movement of the boats as they glide slowly down the
stream, just helped or guided by the paddles of the boat
people! Delightful then one finds it to travel in this
easy way and watch the varying view as, in following the
bending river, the boat now faces one mountain spur
backed by loftier hills, now turns to another of different
beauty, or else shows us the opposing line of snowy
mountain-peaks.

The rest of the space included in the vale is occupied
by what in Kashmir are called '^Karewas." They ai*e
plateaus of alluvial or lacustrine material (mostly loam
and clay), often divided from each other, cut into strips, so
to say, by ravines of from 100 to 300 feet in depth;
occasionally they are isolated, but more generally they
are united to some of the mountains that bound the
valley. Some of these Karewas are dry and bare of trees,
and depend for cultivation on the rain alone ; others are
irrigated by mountain streams ; and some as they join on
to the Panjal Range, bear forest of pine.

112 KASHMIR.

The mountain slopes are for the most part wooded on
the south-western side where there is more moisture,
and grass-covered on the north-eastern, but there even,
wherever a turn of the hill gives a more shady aspect,
forest abounds. Only at the heights above the tree-level
does the rock show bare.

Kashmir about corresponds in latitude with the follow-
ing places : in Asia, Baghdad and Damascus ; in Africa,
Fez, the capital of Morocco ; in America, South Carolina.
But the elevation above the sea, of five or six thousand
feet, gives it a far more temperate climate than what any
of these enjoy.

A rather cold and showery spring is succeeded by a
summer a few degrees hotter than a warm English
summer, with much more continuous fine weather. The
four or five months from May to September are enjoyed
alike by natives of India and of Europe. As compared
with India in the hot weather, the advantage of Kashmir
is enormous ; at the worst the heat is of that stage when,
in the plains, one would begin to think about using pun-
kahs, and this heat is in most years soon reduced by storms.

Immediately about Sirtnagar, which has lakes or
marshes bordering on it in nearly every direction, the
heat of July and August is apt to make the air somewhat
feverish ; a move of a few miles, however, will take one
to drier parts, where the air is bracing and free from any
tendency to give fever.

As to moisture, the country is intermediate in position
between that which is deluged by the periodical rains
and that which is arid from the want of them. The
monsoon, which, coming from the south-west, breaks with

THE CLIMATE. 113

force on that side of the Panjal Hills, is almost completely
intercepted by tliem and prevented from reaching the
interior of Kashmir. In July and August one sees the
storm clouds collected around the summits of those
mountains, and knows that they indicate that the season
of the rains has commenced in the tract beyond. Now
and then the water-bearing clouds force their way across,
and precipitate their moisture on the slopes of the Kashmir
side; for this reason the karewa country on the south-
west, especially the higher part of it, receives a greater
rainfall than the river-alluvium flat on the north-east.
The mountains beyond again, those that divide Kashmir
Irom Ladakh, receive a good deal of rain.

The climate does not allow of a complete double
harvest as in the plains of India and the lower hills, but
still with some grains two crops can be got oflf the sanie
land. Barley, sown about November, will ripen in the
middle or end of June ; after that crop, or after rape, maize
or millet or some of the pulses may be sown. It is not,
however, the common practice thus to take two crops
from the land; those crops that belong to the autumn
harvest are usually grown on fresh ground ; but doubtless
with a greater demand for land the first custom would
s[)read, at all events in favourable spots. Neither wheat
nor rice allow of a second crop the same year; they both
(XH'iipy the soil for too many months. Wherever water
can be got for irrigation rice is grown, and without
iirigation it cannot be grown, llice is in Kashmir the
most important crop of all; though raised succcssivtrly
troni the same ground, it yields a great return. It is
the common food of the Kashmiri, of those who live in

I

114 KASHMIR.

the towns, and of those of the country people who can
grow it themselves ; the cultivators who have no irrigated
land must content themselves with what of the maize or
of the other cheap grains falls to their share.

Soon icfter the autumn crop has ripened and been cut,
come signs of approaching winter. Any time after the
middle of October snow may fall on the surrounding
mountains. Through November and December a haze
covers the low country, which will keep ofif the night-
cold, but at the same time prevent the sun's rays from
brightening the land. The snow by repeated falls, each
perhaps of no great thickness, gets lower on the moun-
tains, and about Christmas time one may expect a
general fall of snow over the whole country. With this
winter has arrived, and there follows a time, usually
about two months, during which snow hides the ground.
The temperature, however, is not severe ; the season, in-
deed, would be better if it were more severe, for the snow
that falls is but just at the freezing point ; it continually
melts with the warmth of the ground, while fresh falls
replace it from above; thus a thickness of from a few
inches to a foot remains for the two months. The cold
dampness of this time prevents the Kashmir winter from
being a pleasant season. The fog from which the snow
folbms hangs over all the valley ; only sometimes it may
clear away, and a brisker, keener air is the result. But
even when the fog so covers the vale the higher parts are
commonly free. In rising, for instance, to the Banilial
Pass, one will get above the fog and look down on it as it
covers in the hollow.

In coming down from Ladakh one year I marched

AS A I) WELLING' PLACE. 115

through Kashmir and over the Banihal Pass in January.
Snow covered the vale, and whitened everything on the
plain except the trees round the villages ; at Sirinagar its
depth was six inches, at Islamabad it was something more,
and at Shaliabad there was a foot and a half of snow on the
ground. On the Banihal ridge it was so thick one could
not measure it. The Pass could not be crossed by horses,
and for men it was very laborious. What struck me on
coming down the other side as a thing worth noting was
that the snow ended off in a sharp contour-line in the
Banihal Valley at a level of 6500 feet, which is 1300
feet above the level where snow was lying in Kashmir
itself.

Towards the end of February, in general, the snow
disappears from the vale, and spring comes on with a
burst.

Thus for nearly half the year, from May to October,
one part or another of Kashmir affords an air that it is a
deh'ght to breathe ; this and the pleasant beauty of its
scenery make it no wonder that Englishmen who can get
leave throng to it as they do in summer time ; and it is one
of the charms of being in Kashnur that the independence
of the kind of traveling there followed by all enables
one with a map in hand, or by information easily got, to
hunt out places that show varying scenery, and give
numerous subjects of interest

Deferring to speak of the city and its neighbourhood
(which are first and most generally frequented by Euro-
peans) till a later chapter, I will point out some of the
country nooks which will well repay a visit.

Gulmarg is one of the summer retreats for those who

116 KASHMIR,

find the air of Sirtnagar too hot. It is a grassy and
flowery valley among the slopes of the Panjal Bange ; a
small valley two or three miles long by one mile in width,
enclosed by low hills, spurs from the mountains, which are
crowned by thick forest of lofty pine-trees that shut out
all beyond and make the spot a most secluded one/ An
elevation of 8000 feet gives an air that in the hottest time
of the year is never oppressive. From the hill that forms
the boundary towards the vale, one may look across the
flat and see ridge after ridge of the farther mountains, as
I have tried to show in the accompanying sketch, where
also the lofty mountain called Nanga Parbat is seen to
rise behind, thick clothed in snow.

Lolab is another place that at some seasons is delight-
ful. Its altitude may be 6000 feet. It is a greeix vale,
about six miles by three, studded with villages and
encircled by hills, which are for the most part covered
by pine and deodar forest. But here one sees, perhaps in
greater degree than elsewhere, the not uncommon sight
in Kashmir of much village land lying waste and neglected,
and of houses dilapidated — the result of a harsh system of
taxation.

Lolab itself not being marked in the map, I may de-
scribe it as immediately on the north-westjof the Walar
Lake. This lake now deserves some attention ; but not in
the hottest time would it be well to pay the visit, for the
marshes that surround it are breeding-grounds for mos-
quitos which at times are exceedingly troublesome. The
lake is by far the largest piece of water in Kashmir, being
as much as ten miles by six : the depth is but little ; over
a great part it is fourteen feet and in other parts still less.

riKW FJ}OM .\'£AI! fiVLMAHU. 117

118 KASHMIR.

The river pours itself io, and at the other end flows out
clear of sediment. On the northern and western shores is
sloping ground or spurs of hill ; on the southern a flat,
across which, through the marshy haze, one views the long
line of snowy mountains more visible than the nearer .
hills.

At the south-east end of the valley, where the different
streams that form the Jhelam come down in various branch
valleys from the mountains, are many places where the
eye finds relief from contemplating the beauty of distant
prospects in nearer views of calmer effect. NavJbuff is one
of these spots. Here a small valley is boundbd by slopes
of low hills that are long spurs from the high ridge behind,
hills that rise only to 1000 and 1500 feet, well covered
with grass and wood, the slopes not very steep, the hills
rounded ; these spurs branching make an ever-changing
scene of nook, knoll, and dell. In the lower parts the
valley bottom is cultivated in rice«fields, which alternate
with orchard-shaded village-tracts.

From the hills above this place I obtained, by good
fortune, a view of the Panjal Mountains, of such beauty, of
such splendour of colour, that it has ever since remained
in my mind so distinctly that the image of it, after many
years, can be recalled at will. It was almost an end view
of the mountains, but our elevation enabled us to see a
succession of the long slopes descending one behind the
other to the plain of the valley. The evening sun that
nearly faced us illumined the light haze which filled the
air ; still the distant spurs were seen through it, them-
selves seeming to be transparent ; the distance between
each was fully shown by the gradations of light, while

THE SIND VALLEY. 119

nearer the hills lost that aerial brightness and were clothed
in rich dark purple.

Some of the finest scenery in Kashmir is to be found in
the Sind Valley, which may be traced on the map by the
name of the Sind River which flows in it. This valley
leads up to the centre of the great snowy range of moun-
tains that separate Kashmir from Ladakh ; along it goes
the road to Leh, the capital of Ladakh. It is a valley
a mile or two in width bounded close by lofty hills of
varied surface — richly clothed with forest or covered
with thick herbage — broken by clifls, and crowned with
rocky peaks.

The mountains rise steep. On the left bank, for
fifteen miles without a break, there is a great slope,
extending up for thousands of feet, covered with dark
forests of silver fir, spruce, and Pinus excdsa, with some
deodar ; here and there lines of Ughter green occur, in
the hollows maybe, where the conditions are more favour-
able to the growth of deciduous trees ; along the lower
edge, too, a growth of them makes a belt of brighter green
beneath the dark conifers ; —

" Up-clomb the 8hado¥ry pine above the x^'oven copse.'

For five or six thousand feet up, this forest continues
along that whole length of fifteen miles ; jn some parts
it reaches to the very summit of the ridge, in others the
mountain rises above the tree-limit, and there is then a
belt of green pasture above the forest^ and above that
rocky peaks and beds of melting snow.

On the right bank, the north side of the valley, the
aspect of the hills is different. Their southern outlook

120 KASHMIR.

does not favour the growth of wood. For a great height
up, their sides are of steep but grassy slopes, broken by
rocks and h'nes of cliff. Still at every mile they show
new forms, as, in going along, one opens the successive
ravines, and one's view reaches to the higher parts, to
the lofty precipitous rocks of the centre of the ridge.

Besides these grand beauties of the mountains there
are more homely ones in the valley. The path lies
through glades shaded by trees of rich and varied foliage,
with flowers of jasmine, honeysuckle, and rose, delicately
scenting the air; it passes by villages which are sur-
rounded by and almost hidden in groves of thick-leaved
walnut-trees. Each village grove cheers one by its
homely, pleasant, look, and each wilder glade tempts one
to stay and enjoy in its shade the combined beauty and
grandeur of the mountain views.

Beyond Gagangir a great rocky ridge on the north side
approaches its opposite neighbour on the south, and the
valley of the river becomes a gorge through which the
waters foam, while the path is carried among the large
fallen blocks that fill up the space between its right bank
and the steep cliff that overhangs it.

After a few miles we pass clear of the gorge and
emerge into more open ground. Crossing the river
and rising up the farther bank to a level one or two
hundred feet above the stream, we come to the plain
called Sonamarg, or ** pleasant plain." This is a narrow
grassy flat, extending some two miles between the hill-
side and the river-bank; connected with it is a wider
tract at the meeting of the side valley from the south-
east This latter is a space of beautiful undulating

SOXAMASn.

121

ground, a succession of dells surrounded by hillockB or
mounds, wLich are sometimes connected more or less
into a line, and sometimes isolated. Tbe dells are co-
vered with long thick grass and numerous wild flowers,
while tlie slopes of the hillocks have a growth of silver

fir, with sycamore, birch, and other bright green trees
beautifully intermingled ; over the mounds are scattered
masses of rock."

To the south is the range we dune through — a great
mass of bare rock divided into lofty peaks by hollows,

• A geologist will not be long in di»co?ering thig hillocky ground to be
tlie terniiiinl mniaiuc of an old glacier. The glacier matA have hail a length
of twenty milps while it wag dcpoxiting tbi« moraine: it mBj once
have extended btther.

in each of which lies a small glacier, such as is depicted
in the preceding page, mere remnants of the great ico
mass which once flowed through all the valleys.

From Sonamarg to B&ltal the valley is immediately
boanded hy hills a few thousand feet high ; on the north

VIEW APPBOACUINO BiLTAL.

Bide they are covered only with grass ; on the south they
are varied with tracts of forest. In some places the Sr
wood spreads down to the part traversed by the road ;
when we get to Baltal the plain again is bare, hut some
of the lower hill-slopes are covered with birch wood and
firs.

A ROUTE TO TIBET. 123

Baltal is the last halting-place before the Pass. Here
the main stream of the Sind River turns off, almost at
right angles, towards the south ; a smaller, steep, stream
comes down from the north-east, while right in front of us
as we come up from Sonamarg is a great precipitous rocky
mountain, which I have tried to represent in the annexed
sketch.

From here a path leads up to the Dras Pass or Zojt L&,
La meaning Pass in Tibetan. This would introduce us to
the elevated Tibetan ground which later we shall approach
from another side.

124 THE PEOPLE OF KASHMIR.

CHAPTER VII.

THE PEOPLE OF KASHMIR.

The Eashmtri people are doubtless physically the finest
of all the races that inhabit the territories we are dealing
with, and I have not much hesitation in saying that in
size and in feature they are the finest race on the whole
continent of India. Their physique, their character, and
their language are so marked £is to produce a nationality
different from all around, as distinct from their neigh-
bours as their country is geographically separated. In
face the Kashmiri might be taken as the type of the
Aryan race. They have a wide straight-up and high
forehead and a fine-shaped head, with a well-cut square
brow. With middle-aged and older people the nose
acquires a decided hook of handsome outline ; the mouth
is often prettily curved with the young people, but it is
apt to get straight and thin-lipped as they grow up. The
eyes are of a not very dark brown. In figure they are, I
should say, of middle height by our English standard,
and not apt to run very much above it ; they are a robust
race, broad-shouldered and large-framed, and of great
muscular power. The complexion is somewhat lighter
than that of the Dogras.

Their clothing is simple ; that of the poor people is
entirely woollen. They wear short pyjamas, and a long,
loose, large-sleeved gown, and a skull cap. Those who

THEIR PHYSIQUE AND CHARACTER. 125

have active work, like the shikaris or professional sports-
men, hitch the gown up and fasten it round the waist
with a kamarband. Anyone who may be bound for a
long march will put on leggings of a peculiar sort, a
bandage about six inches wide and four yards long,
wound round from the ankle up to just below the knee,
and then fastened by a long string.

In character the Kashmiris have qualities which make
one to be interested in and to like them ; but their
failings and faults are many. Tliey are false-tongued,
ready with a lie, and given to various forms of deceit.
This character is more pronounced with them than with
most Oi the races of India. They are noisy and quarrel-
some, ready to wrangle, but not to fight; on the least
exercise or threat of force they cry like children. They
have, indeed, a wide reputation for being faint-hearted
and cowardly ; still, I must admit that I have sometimes
met with Kashmiris who as against physical dangers bore
themselves well. In intellect they are superior to their
neighbours ; they are certainly keener than Panjabis, and
in perception, and clearness of mind and ingenuity, they
far outvie their masters, the Dogras. In disposition they
are talkative, cheerful, and humorous.

As to their language, it may in passing be told that
from Panjabi and from Dogri it is so different as to be
quite incomprehensible to those nations ; also, it is diflB-
cult to learn. The oflBcials of the MaharajVs governmeut,
who have much to do with Kashmir, seldom master its
language ; if they do so at all, with rare exceptions, it is
only so far as to understand, and not to sj)eak it. The
Kashmiris, on the other hand, are good lingui^jts ; nearly

126 THE PEOPLE OF KASHMIR,

all the men aud a good proportion of the women know
either Panjabi or Hindostaui, or, more likely, speak a
mixture of both. So the Hindostant language will well
carry one through Kashmir, as well as through the country
of the Dogras. The Kashmiri language is rather harsh
in sound, but it seems, to one who listens to a conversation
without understanding it, to be expressive, and able to be
made emphatic ; those who speak it seem never at a loss
to express every shade of meaning wanted.

The country people are but poorly off; I think, indeed,
that they get a fair meal, but they can afford little beyond
their simple daily food, and are unable to provide against
a rainy day; so when a bad year comes, as, though
not often, does sometimes happen, they are put to
great straits, and will perhaps leave the country in
numbers ; for the isolation of the place is such that it
is exceedingly diflScult for any great importation of com
to be made to redress the failure of a harvest. Thus
famines have, in former times, been the occasion of
migrations of Kashmiri, the origin of the settlements of
them we met with in various parts of the Outer HUls, and
of those in the Panjab itself.

The Kashmir villages, though untidy in details, are
very picturesque. The cottages are two-storied ; in some
parts they have mud walls, with a low sloping gable-roof
of thatch or of rough shingle ; in others, where wood is
more plentiful, they are entirely of timber, made like a
log- hut. They are sure to have some rooms warm and
cosy, to live in in winter time ; and a balcony sheltered
by the overhanging eaves makes a good sitting-place in
summer. The lower story of the cottages is used in

THEIB COTTAGE HOMES.

127

winter for stabling the cattle ; their animal beat sensibly
warms the house, and partly counteracts the coldnesB of
the season.

But the Kashmiris have a plan that renders them Tery
independent even of household fires for a protection
against cold. Of all classes, and of all ages, they carry
what they cull a itdw^n. This
is a small earthen pot, about six
inches across, enclosed in basket-
work ; it contains live charcoal.
They hold this beneath their
great gowns, against their bodies,
and the heat from it, especially
when they are seated on the
floor, diffuses itself beneath their
clotliing, and makes up for the
scantiness and looseness of it ;
for in winter they neither change
Dor add to their summer clothing. The kangri is accu-
rately represented in the adjoining cut.

Tlie cottages are not clumped and crowded, as in the
villages of the Faiijab and of Dugar, but are commonly
detached. By the village, grow, unenclosed, Dumeroui
fruit-trees — apple, cherry, mulberry, and walnut — which
form a wood or grove around and hide from view the
dwellings. Looking from a commanding height we see
the vale all studded with such village groves. In the
early mmmer, when the fields are flooded for rice cultiva^
tion, chere is the appearance of a chain of lakes and
strait^ the parts occupied by the villages themselves
beiiij the only dry land. In all such prospects, when

128 TllE PEOPLE OF KASHMIR.

the eye lias scanned the iahabited plain, it reaches be-
yond to the dark forests and shining snow-fields of the
stately mountains.

InSiriuagar there is more variety in the inhabitants than
in the country around ; the people here are more divided
up into castes, some of which are based on hereditary
transmission of occupations, of which there is necessarily
greater variety than in the villagcB.

First, standing out marked and separate froui the rest,
are the Pandits. These are the Hindu remainder of tlie
nation, the great majority of whom were convened to
Islam. Sir Geoi^e Campbell supposes that previously
the mass of the populaliou of Kashmir was Brahman.
We certainly see that at this day the only Kashmiri
Hindus are Brahmaus. These, whatever their occupation
— whether that of a writer, or, maybe, of a tailor or
clotbseller — always bear the title " Pandit," which, in
other parts of India, is confined to those Brahmaus who
are learned in their theology.

The Kashmtri Pandits have that same fine cast uf
features which is observed in the cultivating class. The
photograph given, after one of Mr. Frith's, is a good
representation of two clothsellers who are Pandits, or
Brahmaus. When allowance has been made for an un-
becoming dress, and for the disfigurement caused by the
caste-mark on the forehead, I think it will bo allowed
that they are of a fine sto^k. Of older men, the features
become more marked in form and stronger in exprassion,
and the face is often thomughly handsome. In com-
plexion the Pandits are lighter than the peasantry ; their
colour is mure that uf the almond. These Brahmans

i

MUHAMMAD AN AND HINDU. 129

are less used to laborious work than the Muhammadan
Kashmiris. Their chief occupation is writing ; great
numbers of them get their living by their pen as Per-
sian writers (for in the writing of that language they
are nearly all adepts), chiefly in the Government service.
Trade, also, they follow, as we see ; but they are not
cultivatoi-s, nor do they adopt any other calling that
requires much muscular exertion. From this it happens
that they are not spread generally over the country;
they cluster in the towns. Sirinagar, especially, has a
considerable number of them ; a late census shows that
in that city out of a total of 132,000 inhabitants, 39,000
are Hindus, most of whom must be these Brahmans.

The remainder of the citizens are Muhammadans. The
Muhammadanism of the Kashmiri in general is not of
a strict sort. Their devotion seems to be most called
forth by the traditional memory of various saints whose
tombs abound in the valley, some of which are places
of pilgrimage whither at certain times the people resort
in numbers. I once was present at such a meeting,
which, like that of the Eindils at Parmandal, combines
the characters of a fair. It was at Tsirar, a place seven-
teen miles from Sirinagar ; to this, during the latter
months of our year, the Kashmiri come to do honour to
the saint, whom they call Shah Nftr-ud-din, who is
buried here. People come from the city, spend a day
or two, and then return. Thursday and Friday are the
fullest days; a fair is then held, when the bazaar and
the temporary stalls are crowded. To the building
which contains the tomb of Nur-ud-din, and of some
disciples and successors of his, access was most difficult

K

130 THE PEOPLE OF KASHMIR.

on account of the numbers. The guardians of the tomb,
themselves faqlrs, greedily took from all. The people
went though and paid each his mite, without seeming to
bestow a thought on the religious character of the place.
They threw much more heart into the fair itself. I had
never seen Kashmiris so self-forgetful and given for the
time to enjoyment. Everyone bought something, the
value of a penny or two, as a fairing — a kangrl, perhaps,
whose price here was something under twopence, or a
carved wooden spoon, or coloured-glass armlets; some-
thing or other to take to those who had stayed at home.
The Friday, according to their reckoning, had begun on
our Thursday at sunset ; during that night the religious
object of the journey had been attended to; the next
morning then they were ready for the return journey.
Throughout the day they trooped back in thousands,
people of all classes and ages crowding the path.

A large proportion of the town inhabitants are shawl-
weavers, whose handicraft has made Kashmir to be fami-
liarly known over the whole both of India and Europe.
These men spend long days in the low, crowded, factories,
where the air is very impure, especially in winter ; they
keep the rooms close for warmth, and in the absence of
ventilation the atmosphere becomes very highly vitiated.
This, and the constancy of the sedentary employment, has
acted on the physique of the shawl-weavers ; they are a
class whose sallow complexions and weak frames contrast
strongly with the robustness of most other Kashmiris.

One other class, which is a numerous and conspicuous
one, shall be spoken of. This is the class of Hanjis, or
boatmen. It has been said that the river is the great

THE BOATMEN. 131

highway of the country ; it is navigable for two days'
journey above and two days' journey below the city, and
it forms the great artery of communication in the city
itself. The class of boatmen, therefore, is likely to be
important. They live, in some cases for months together,
in some cases entirely, in their boats. A portion of the
after-part of the boat is separated and covered in with
matting, so as to make a dwelling-place not uncomfort-
able ; even the winter can be weathered under such
shelter, with the aid of the kangrL By the help of
plastered mud a fireplace for cooking is arranged, and
the whole family — often three generations together — thus
pass the greater part of their lives on board.

The Hanjis are the class with whom Englishmen who
visit Kashmir come most in contact, and from whom they
are apt to form their opinion of the whole nation. They
have, indeed, some of the best and some of the worst
qualities of the Kashmiris intensified. They are men of
active imagination, which is shown in their ready tales
and in the lying legends they are always prompt to invent
to amuse one. They are excessively greedy, never being
satisfied as long as they think there is the least chance of
getting more. The cowardice which is proverbially a
characteristic of the Kashmiris is shown by the Hanjis
whenever they are overtaken on one of the lakes by a
storm of wind. They have much of good spirits and of
humour, and in energy and versatility they are behind
none of their nation. The photograph of the group of
Hanjis (this also taken from one of Mr. Frith's) shows
that in face and figure they are a race deserving admira-
tion. Their body is well developed by their labour of

132 TUE PEOPLE OF KASHMIR.

towing and of paddling ; especially the muscles of their
back become greatly strengthened by the latter. These
boatmen use a single heart-shaped paddle, in the working
of which they are exceedingly skilful. One of them,
sitting in the stem of a boat, will both propel and guide
by paddling on one side only ; for a drawing of the paddle
a little towards one, or a turn of the wrist outwards, will
enable one to steer in the stroke itself. The women help
in the paddling, but only for slow work. In towing, men,
women, and children all take their turn.

Last in our description of classes shall come the caste
called Bated. This division is one that has some
ethnological importance, ^he Batal is one of those
tribes whose members are outcasts from the community.
Like the Diims of the Outer Hills, the Batals have to do
the dirtiest work ; it is part of their trade to remove and
skin carcases and to cure leather. I have heard that
there are two classes of Batals — so apt are communities
in India to divide and subdivide, to perpetuate differences,
and to separate rather than amalgamate. The higher
Batals follow the Muhammadan rules as to eating, and
are allowed into some fellowship with the other Muham-
madans. The lower Batals eat carrion, and would not
bear the name of Musalman in the lips of others though
they might call themselves so. By the analogy of other
parts, these Batals are very likely to be the remnants of
inhabitants earlier than the Aryans. From among them
are provided the musicians and the Aancers ; the dancing-
girls whom one sees at the darbars and festivals which the
Maharaja holds at Sirinagar are of that race.

I have hitherto spoken of the men of Kashmir and not

THE WOMEN. 133

of the women. In my accounts of other races, also, it will
have been observed that I have said little about the
women. The reason is obvious. One sees so little of
them, except of the lowest classes, and so seldom meets
them face to face, that it is diflScult to generalise about
their characteristics. In Kashmir there are one or two
classes of whom one sees more than one would of corre-
sponding ranks in other parts of India ; still I do not feel
able to give more than my general impressions of their
appearance. Among the Kashmiri the women, as a rule,
are decidedly good-looking. A well-shaped face, good
brow, and straight nose, with black hair coming rather
low on the forehead; these are features not uncom-
monly met with. Sometimes one sees a thoroughly
handsome face. The women are tall and well grown ; as
to grace of figure, the looseness of their dress prevents
one from speaking ; but I do not think that they have
the delicacy and elegance of form that many women
in India have, and the well-turned arm and small
hand, there so usual, is not common in Kashmir. The
two classes one sees most of are the Panditanis, that
is the women of the Pandit or Brahman caste, and the
Haujnis, or women of the Hanji caste. At certain times
of the day a trip through the city by the river will show
you specimens of both. The Panditanis have a delicate
look ; they have a light, rather sallow, complexion. The
Hanjnis are used to exercise and work ; they show in their
faces a healthy brown and red, and I think more often
have a pleasing expression than the others. The Hanjis'
little girls of five or six are as pretty a<^any I have seen
anywhere.

134 THE PEOPLE OF KASHMIR.

The girls, until they marry, wear their hair hanging
down behind in numerous plaits, joined together and
continued by cords and tassels. The women wear, like
the men, a long loose gown, hanging in one fall from the
shoulders to the ankles. For head-dress they have a low
red cap, with a white cloth hanging from it, mantilla-wise,
down the back. The Panditants wear a white kamarband,
or waist-belt, confining the gown. The dancing-girls of
the Batal caste, from whom some Europeans are apt to
form their idea of the women of Kashmir, and who, being
least unwilling to undergo photography, are those whose
pictures one can see in London, are by no means fair
examples of the race ; neither in figure nor in face are
they so fine as the women of the other castes — of the
Kashmiri race proper.

SI BIN AGAR, 135

CHAPTER VIII.

SIRINAGAR AND ITS ENVIRONS.

SiRiNAGAR is the ancient and the present name of the
capital. On account of its having a taint of Hindu
mythology, the word was disused during the time the
Muhammadans were rulers, and for some hundreds of years
the city was called by the same name as the country, that
is " Kashmir." But when the Sikhs conquered Kashmir,
they restored the old Hindii name, and ** Sirinagar " the
town has since been generally called.

The city is situated about the centre of the valley as
regards its length, but quite at the north-east side of it,
near where the river Jhelam, in its windings through the
alluvial flat, touches some of the projecting spurs of the
mountains. Where the river makes a great bend, changing
its course from north to south-west, there, along both banks
for a length of three miles, the town is built, extending
not more than half a mile on each side of the river. The
stream is about like that of the Thames at Kingston in
width and rate of flow. It is the chief artery of traffic ; it is
of much more importance as a thoroughfare than any of the
streets ; indeed, there are but one or two streets, and those
but short ones, that have anything like a continuous
traffic, while the river is always alive with boats.

The river aspect of the city is extremely picturesque.
Tliere is nothing like a quay or embankment, and there is

136 SIRINAGAR AND ITS ENVIRONS.

no line of regular buildings^ but each house is built inde-
pendently. In height uneven, of form varied, and in
material changing as to the proportion of stone and wood,
the houses nearly all agree in having a low sloping roof,
with eaves extending, and much window-space in the
front, guarded by movable wooden lattices of elaborate
patterns. The base of each house is a solid stone wall,
sometimes of rough masonry, sometimes better built of cut
stone obtained from some old Hindd temple. This firm
wall is raised to a level above the rise of the highest
floods; it has in many cases supported several genera-
tions of superstructures. Above it is the wood and brick
building of two, three, or at most four stories, often pro-
jecting several feet over the river supported by the ends of
the floor- beams, propped, may be, from beneath. This
upper structure is sometimes of brick columns, on which
all above rests, with looser brickwork filled in between ;
but sometimes the framework is of wood, which confines
the brickwork of the walls. These mixed modes of con-
struction are said to be better as against earthquakes
(which in this country occur with severity) than more
solid masonry, which would crack.

The view of these buildings — uneven, irregular, but for
that very reason giving in the sunlight varied lights and
depths of shadow ; of the line of them broken with
numerous stone ghat8, or stairs, thronged with people, that
lead from the river up to the streets and lanes of the city ;
of the mountain-ridges showing above, in form varying as
one follows the turns of the river ; of the stream flowing
steadily below, with boats of all kinds coming and going
on it, is one of remarkable interest and beauty. From

VIEW OF THE CITY. 137

a height of tower or hill, that will command a bird's-eye
view, the sight is still more curious, because of the great
expanse of earth-covered roofs, which at some time of
the year are covered with a growth of long grass, that
makes the city look as green as the country. The frontis-
piece, which is a woodcut taken from one of Mr. Frith's
photographs, faithfully represents these characters.

The public buildings are mosques, Hindd temples
lately erected, and the Pulace. This last is within the
walls of the Sher Garhi, or Fort, which is large enough to
include, besides, a bazaar of some importance, the Govern-
ment offices, and the houses of the courtiers. To the
river it presents a loop-holed wall with bastions, rising
some twenty-five feet above the general level of the water,
surmounted by these roomy but lightly-built houses.
The Palace, at the lower corner, is an irregular building,
of style partly Kashmiri partly Panjabi, while a new lofty
edifice with a large projecting bow has traces of European
design, though it was not in reality planned by an English-
man. Close by is a golden-domed temple, which is fre-
quented for morning and evening service by the Court.*

Of one of the mosques a drawing is given on the title-
page ; it is the one called by the name of Sb&h Hamadan ;
it is a good specimen of the indigenous architecture, which
has indeed become adapted to mosques and shrines in a
way both to suit the object and to give a pleasing effect

The river is spanned within the city by seven bridges,

* It is the Maharaja's custom to visit Kashmir, accompanied by nearly
aU his Court, for a few months, sometimes every year and sometimes less
often. The object is in both to avoid the heat of the lower land and to
look more closely into the afifairs of Kashmir.

138 SIRINAGAR AND ITS ENVIRONS.

whose structure of piers — built of alteraately-crossing
layers of poles (with intervals filled in with stones),
widening above to shorten the span of the beam — will be
understood from the view of one shown in the picture of
the city. A few canals traverse the interior of the town.
One of them is wide, and is overlooked by some of the
best of the houses. One is narrow, passing through some
of the poorest parts; low dwellings crowd on it that,
albeit they are well peopled, seem to be on the point of
falling ; these are irregular, ruinous, places that it would
have delighted Prout to draw. A third canal leads from
the upper part of the city to the gate of the lake, and
shows along its winding course groves of plane-trees on
the banks that make a beautiful combination with the
smooth waters at their feet and the mountains that rise
behind them.

All these are highways for boats, which here do the
work of the wheeled vehicles of other countries. In
E^hmir there are no carriages or carts ; the only things
on wheels are the guns of the artillery ; but every kind
of vehicle is here represented in the varieties of boats.
There is the pleasure-barge called Bangla^ a large vessel,
with, as it were, a house built amidships, which is only
used by the rulers. Parinda is the name, metaphorically
given, of a light, fast, boat, with a small platform forward
and an awning over part of it ; this also is for persons of
consequence. These two may carry a score or two of pad-
dlers. Bdkls is the large-sized barge used for carrying grain,
a heavy, cumbersome, vessel ; it has a kind of thatched
house at the stern for a living house. The Dunga is the
ordinary boat for carrying miscellaneous merchandise,

BOATING THROUGH THE CITY, 139

and for carrying passengers to a distance ; it is this which
tlie English visitors take to with their establishment for
the excursions up and down the river. In such a boat
one can pass both days and nights very comfortably.
These dungas are the home of the greater number of
the Hanjis. A shikari is the sort of boat that is in daily
use with the English visitors ; a light boat, manned, as
it commonly is, by six men, it goes at a fast pace, and,
if well fitted with cushions, makes a comfortable con-
veyance. A handuqi shikari is the smallest boat of all ; a
shooting punt, used in going after wild fowl on the lakes.
His boat the visitor will always make use of to do
business in the city. None traverse either on foot or
horseback the streets and lanes — the dirtiest to be met
with anywhere — except under dire necessity.* Happily
most of the places likely to attract him are by the river-
side. There the shawl merchants have their houses, and
in comfortable rooms overlooking the cheerful scene of the
river tempt one with the varied products of the Kashmir
loom and needle. Nor is the shawl-work, though by far
the most important, the only ornamental art peculiar to
the place. The silver work and papier-mache (with which
the specimens shown in the various exhibitions have of
late years made many familiar) display the same taste,
the same artistic feeling, whether shown in simple beauty
of form or in harmonious brilliancy of colour, which has
made the Kashmir shawl, when of the best, a thing
inimitable by other manufacturers.

* The repeated outbreaks of cholera that have of late years oocorred in
Sirinagar, and their prolonged continuance, show that the disease can
flourish in a soil favourable to it, even though the climate be against it

140 SIRINAGAR AND ITS ENVIRONS,

Of the environs of Sirinagar we may get a panoramic
view from a little eminence projecting from the Takht
Hill — a conspicuous rocky temple-crowned hill, nearly
isolated from the last spur of the mountains, about a mile
from the city. The view shows in the distance a long
line of the steep snowy peaks of the Panjal ; in front of
them, towards the plain, lie the forest slopes and the
barer ground of the high karewas ; then the low vale ex-
tends its length, through which, in deep-winding curves,
flows the Jhelam Kiver. The last reach of the river,
before it comes to the city, is edged by the houses,
nearly hidden in the orchard?, where lodge the English
visitors. Where the city lies, the river is hidden from our
view by the buildings amongst which it finds its way ; a
great space is closely covered by the house-roofs ; among
them rise the spires of the mosques, and beyond them
the fort-capped hill called Hari Parbat. On the right
is marshy ground intersected by clearer water-channels ;
this melts or changes into the lake called the Dal*

First let us look at what may be called the English
quarter. This is situated on the right bank of the river
above the city. A row of bungalows has been at different
times erected for the use of the English visitors ; they are
free to applicants as they come. After travelling about
in a narrow tent one is glad to get a roof over one's head
for a change ; and these little places give enough of shelter
in the favourable weather of the Kashmir summer ; but,
with the exception of a few, they are but poor houses,
roughly and thinly built, such as no working man in

* This view ia truthfuUy depicted (as to outline) in a panoramic sketch
to be seen at the South Kensington Museum, on the staircase.

THE ENQLISn QUARTER. 141

England is obliged to put up with. These bungalows
being insufficient for all, many tents are pitched in the
gardens close by, and the whole space, for the length of
nearly a mile, is lively with the camps of the visitors and
with the Kashmiri who crowd to do business with them ;
while the river-side is occupied by their boats and re-
sounds with the eager talk of the boat people. In a
separate garden is the newly-built Residency, where the
officer in special duty comes for a six months' tour of
office, his duty being to take cognizance of what espe-
cially concerns the visitors and their followers, and to be
the channel of communication at this time between the
British Government and the Maharaja. The house is
large and lofty ; but it is built too much after the plan
of our houses in India to be well suited to the Kashmir
climate.

Around the Dal are some of the most attractive spots
of all the neighbourhood. The Dal is a lake measuring
five miles from north to south, and two miles from west
to east ; it is in part shallow, and inclining to be marshy ;
in other parts it is deeper, and everywhere it is of the
clearest water. On three sides a mountainous amphi-
theatre backs it, whose summit is from 3000 to 4000 feet
above the water. On the ground at the foot of these
mountains, at the edge of the lake, are numerous villages
surrounded by orchards, and the several renowned gardens
constructed by the Delhi Emperors. Westwards, towards
the open flat, are, first, the gardens that float — gardens
made of earth and vegetable matter accumulated on
water-plants; then the half-reclaimed marsh, alternate
strips of shallow water and made ground ; and then the

142 sib7nagar and its environs.

city. The three most delightful places on the lake are
the Nishat, Nastm, and Shalamar Gardens. These were
all made, the buildings constructed and the trees planted,
by the Delhi Emperors ; and if the buildings have gone
to decay and lost much of their original beauty, we may
congratulate ourselves on being able to enjoy the shade of
the magnificent chtnar or plane trees, which, while the
Emperors' rule still lasted in Kashmir, had hardly
reached their prime.

Nisihat Oardeuy or Nishat Bdgh* is situated on the
sloping ground in front of the mountains. It is an
oblong walled enclosure, of some 600 yards in length,
reaching from the lake edge to the foot of the steep hill-
side. It is terraced to the fall of the ground, and divided
into five widths ; the two outer are now in grass or orchard ;
within these are strips of ground in beds, an outer garden ;
in the centre the terraces have revetments, and a well-
built masonry canal, with flower-beds along each side,
occupies the whole length ; the fall at each terrace-face is
made over stone slabs carved in scallops to scatter the
water, while each level stretch of the canal has a line of
fountains. A bungalow (bangla), or pavilion, built over
the running water, completes the line at each end; the
beauty of the vista is much enhanced by the great plane-
trees on each side ; over these the eye looking downwards
commands a lovely view of the lake, while upwards the
great clifis of the mountains shut closer the prospect.

Shalamar Garden t is a couple of miles to the north. It

♦ " Garden of Gladness.**

t Sh&la means " house," or ** abode " ; M&r is the name of the Hind(k
goddess of Love.

GARDENS BY THE LAKE. 143

is on a plain somewhat similar to that of Nishat, but the
terraces are low on account of the ground being of a
gentler slope. For the same reason the prospects are not
so commanding. The chief beauty in this garden is the
uppermost pavilion, which is supported on handsome
columns of black and grey fossiliferous marble,. and is sur-
rounded by a tank filled with fountains, while plane-trees
overhang it. The canal leads down in cascades and level
runs alternately, and beyond the gates it continues
through the marsh far into the lake.

Nasim Bdffh, or the Garden of Breezes, is a place that
never saw its prime. It was constructed by one of the
Jlughal 5r Delhi Emperors, with a great revetment wall,
terraces, and masonry stairs. On the plateau, thirty or
forty feet above the lake, a succession of cross avenues of
plane trees was planted. The structure, which made one
grandeur of the place, fell into decay before the trees
reached to the height of their beauty. Now the masonry
is in ruins and half hidden. The splendid avenues of
chinar-trees throw a shade over quiet grassy walks.
From among the foliage the view over the lake is
exquisite ; the water has a glassy surface, reflecting yery
perfectly the circling wall of mountains ; but these have
often, especially in the morning sun, their details softened,
as well as their colours harmonised, by the brightening of
the delicate haze that intervenes.

TBE ROUTE TO QILQIT.

CHAPTEB IX

THE BOOTE TO OILOIT.

Ik leaving Sirtaagar, to penetrate among more lofty
monntaina than those as yet approached, it would be
well to take a general view of the form of the country
which lies at the back of Kashmir and which makes up
the portion of the territories hitherto nndescribed by us.

One of the most important of the moUDtaftt ranges
is that which bounds Kashmir on the north-east; it is
this we were penetrating when we followed the Bhutna
stream in Padar, and, lately, the 8iod Biver in Kashmir,
towards their sources. The first wide extent of land
marked as nuinhabited, remains so from the height and
width of this range, which bears many a peak over
20,000 feet, and snow that gives rise to many a glacier.
I am anxious, that the reader shonld understand that,
beyond that range, whether north-eastward or eastward
from Kashmir, the whole country is at a high level. The
mountain-tops are very commonly 19,000 and 20,000 feet,
while the level of the valleys varies from 15,000 down
to 8000 feet. The Indus Eiver, which drains all that
country (having risen far to the south-east in Cliinese
Tibet), enters the territories at an elevation of 14,000 feet,
and flows at a gradually decreasing height through the
countries of Ladakh and Baltistan, which are those whose
inhabitants are denoted by the red colour on the map.

LEA r/.W THE KASHMIR VALE. 145

Not until that river gets near to the north-west corner
of the country, and takes the sharp bend, does it reach as
low QA 5000 feet above the sea.

It is to this north-west coraeT that we shall now bend
onr steps. By following a route which leads to the place
named Gilgit, we turn the fiank of some of the highest
mountains, and march in ralleyg cut in the sides of others
till we reach the Indus at that lower level that was
mentioned ; but still, as we shall see, we are among great
lofty ranges, and tliough we may have passed one barrier
another equally lofty looms in front.

G-ilgit, which we make for, is about 130 miles from
Sirinagar as the crow flies, but it is 230 by road, and the
march takes twenty-two days. If the object were simply
to reach the journey's end, it would be found a tedious
road ; in any case it is a rough and laborious one.

The way usually adopted is to drop down the Jhelam
by boat and cross the Walar Lake to a place called
Bandipur, whence the start by land is made.

There is first to be crossed the ridge which intervenea
between the Vale of Kashmir and the Kishanganga
Valley. To reach to the summit of this takes more
than a day. The path zigzags up a spur for some
thousands of feet ; then it leads us to a port where the
slope is more gradual and the ground is varied, being
brokeu into sweet little flowery dells surrounded by 6r-
tvees. Here, by the side of a little lake embosomed in
a glade of the forest, is a halting-place 4000 feet above
the Kashmir Valley. Thence a rise of between 2000 and
3000 feet more brings us to the ridge. On the other
side, the road descends through somewliat similar but on

146 THE BOVTE TO OILOIT.

the vhole more wooded gtoand ; after a day and a halfs
march from the ridge, the banks of the KiBhanganga are
reached. Thus then, in traversing twenty-four miles of
road, or as the crow flies a distance of sixteen miles, and
rising and descending some 6500 feet, we had crossed the
northern bounding ridge of Kashmir.

The Eishangaoga River which rises forty miles to the
eastward of this spot, among the mountains behind Di&s,
has here become a fine swift stream. As it flows on, it
receives tributaries that make it a river of equal im-
portance with the Jhelam, which it joins at Muzafarabad.

Our way leads up the valley. A short march past
pine-covered hills brings us to Gurez, a collection of
scattered clusters of l(^-hute. This place, which gives
its name to the district, is where, for some four miles
in length, the valley somewhat widens. The height of
Gurez is 7800 feet above the sea. This elevation, com-
bined with a great amount of cloud and lain in summer
and of snow in winter, makes the climate inclement.
In this and some other respects the place reminds me
much of the valley of Padar.

In reaching this upper part of the Kishanganga Valley,
we had already come into the tract occupied by Dards ;
in the village of Gurez itself there is a mixture of Bards
and Kashmiris, but the former predominate. From there
onwards the people are almost entirely of that race, and
dialects of the Dard language, a language quite different
from Kashmiri, are spoken.* We shall get to know more
of these people as we go on ; here we note that we are

* These ethoogniphical fscU aro denoted on the Uap hj the blue tint
far Dftrda, and the iquareB of green for Eashmiri.

OUREZ TO ASTOS. 147

already io Dardistan, if we keep that appellation for the
country inhabited by Bards.

From Gurez the road goes, for three days' march, along
a tributary of the river, between mountain-slopes clothed
first by pine but farther on by spruce and silver firs.
Tbe Jast Lalting-place on this side the ridge, which makes
the watershed between the Jhelam and Indus dramage, is
at Burzil. Thence we rise in five or sii miles a height
of about 2000 feet, to the Pass which is called Dorikun,
13,5uO feet high ; it is not a defile, but a neck between
the two parts of a rocky ridge, which is of granite.

Having crossed tbe Pass we are in the hasin of the
Indus ; we are on the eastern branch of the Astor Biver.
The valley in which this flows we now descend ; for
three more marches down it is enclosed hy not very steep
mouutains, after which we come to where the western
branch of tbe Astor stream falls in; then another few
miles and we reach Astor, thirteen or fourteen marches
from Sirinagar.

On the north side of the ridge that we crossed, a slight
difference in the vegetation was observed as compared with
that of the Gurez Valley ; the grass less completely clothes
the hill-sides ; the brake-fera does not so mnch abound,
and the pine forests are less extensive. These are signs
that the climate is drier ; it is here of that degree which
may be called semi-Tibetan ; in this, though forest and
grass clothe part of the moontain-slopes, tbe air is too dry
for any crop to be raised without irrigation.

Coming down the valley we reach traces of cultivation
at the level of 10,000 feet. First are detached hamlets
and small villages, bare, with no trees about them. Then

148 TEE BOUTE TO OILOIT.

we come to a village with some apricot-trees ; at the next
place are some small walnuts ; while at Chagam, which is
8500 feet, are many fine walnut-trees, and from there
onwards the villages are mostly well shaded by fruit-
trees.

Bat in that npper part it is chiefly traces of former
cultivation that one sees ; they are enoagh to show that
crops will grow and ripen ; but the fields are waste, the
hamlets deserted. This state of things was brought about
by the raids of the people of Chilas. The Chilasts are a
D&rd race inhabiting a long valley on the west of Diyamir
or Nanga Farbat Until about 1850 they used to make
occasional expeditions for plunder, coming round the
flanks of the mountain into this Astor Valley, The
plunder they came for was cattle, and people to make
slaves of; their captives they do not sell, but keep for
their own service, mailing use of them to take their flocks
and herds to pasture. But since it would be almost im-
possible to keep grown men as their slaves at such work,
where opportunities for escape would be plentiful, they
used to kill the men and carry away only the women and
the young people.

It was these raids that determined Maharaja Gulab
Singh to send a punitive expedition against Chilis ; this
he did in 1851 or 1852. The Bogros at last took the
chief stronghold of the Chilasls, a fort two or three miles
from the Indus Biver, and reduced those people to some
degree of obedience ; and there has been no raid since.

It is curious that while the people of Astor are all riders
and keep many ponies, these Cbil&sis have none, and tbey

NAN6A PABBAT. 149

osed Dot to attempt to take away any they met with in
their raida.

The Aator people, who thna in later tiioea bare Buflisred
ao much, used formerly, when they were Btrooget, to do
the same kind of thing. Goiez was liable to their attacks,
and Dris also.

The most interesting place I visited in the Astoz conntry
is the valley which leads ap to the base of Naog& Farbat.
Just beyond the vilU^ of Tarshing, we reach, at a level
of 9400 feet, the foot of one of the glaciers that spring
from that great moontain.

Nanga Parbat, whose sammit is 26,600 feet above the
eea, towers above in a great snowy and rocky mass that
seems to be a gigantic escarpment The glacier in iti
lower course has a slope of 4° or 6°, with a width of aboat
tbreeMiaarters of a mile; it is maoh broken by cnrred
transverse crevasses.

For some three milea along the left bank of the Racier,
is a great side moraine, the sar&ce of which is now grown

over with forest The annexed seotatm acrosB, if looked
at closely, will show the relationHhip oi tbe moraines and
the ice. From the hollow next the moantain-side on tbe
east, one ascends a very regnlar slope of perhaps 26° fin a
height of 400 feet ; this is the old moraine, it is now
covered with pine-wood. Beyond the crest of it is a little

150 THE BOUTB TO QILOIT.

hollow, and then a second moraine heap, which, on the
farther side, is bounded by a vertical cliff of 100 feet, at
the foot of which is the glacier. On the right bank there
is a representative of the inner one only of these two
moraine-ridges.

I heard from natives of Tarshing, close observers, of
some curious changes in the state of the ice. It seems that
up to 1850 it was jammed against the rock on the opposite
side of the main valley to which it may be said to be tri-
bntary.

At the time spoken of, the whole surface of the glacier
was smooth, uncrevassed ; one might have walked, and
indeed they used to ride, anywhere on it. The stream
from the south-west, which drains other glaciers, found a
way for itself underneath. Well, about that year or the
next, in the winter time, the water-way got stopped up,
and a lake began to accumulate in the valley above ; as
spring came the lake much increased ; it must have been,
at the last, a mile or a mile and a half long and half a
mile wide, with an average depth of 100 or 150 feet, the
extreme depth being about 300 feet. The people knew
what was coming, and men were pnt on the watch ; when
at length the water reached the top of the glacier and
began to flow over, word was sent down the valley, and all
fled from the lower parts to the hill-eides ; the water cut
down a course for itself between the cliff and the glacier,
and in doing so produced a disastrous flood that lasted
three days."

* H«ny other floods on the IndDi hftve been produced id k aimilar w*;
from other gUciers. The greAtest known flood, however, was cuued bj a
landslip. Details on this «ubjeat will be fonnd in ' The Jummoo and
it—hmi. Tenitorie^' Chapter xvu.

I

CANTONMENT OF ASTOR. 151

After this the glacier gradually sunk, at the rate of a
few yards every year, till it came down to its present
position, that is about 100 feet below its former level ; at
the same time it became crevassed, so that now it is
difficult to find a road across. It is evident that at the
time the glacier abutted against the rock, the ice was
being compressed, and the crevasses that may have
formerly existed were closed up; aftenvards, the water
keeping open a passage, the ice was cracked ofif bit by bit
as it advanced, and the circumstances that cause crevasses
(iis inequalities in the bed) acted without opposition.
Now again the space between the end of the glacier and
the cliff is closed up; the waters at present find a passage
for themselves beneath; probably the same process of
compression has re-commenced, which may again end in
a complete stoppage of the upper drainage, formation of a
lake, and subsequent outbreak and flood.

Returning to Astor itself,* we find it a place that used
to be the seat of a Dard Baja, but is now a cantonment of
the 3Iaharaja's troops, the chief station for the Gilgit
Brigade. It is a collection of hundreds of small huts
which the soldiers inhabit in twos and threes ; these
huts are huddled or crowded together in two or three
separate clumps. The number of troops is about 1200 ;
the object of keeping them here, rather than nearer the
frontier, is to save carriage of the supplies, which mostly
come from Kashmir ; the force is on the right side of the
snowy Pass, and is always ready to advance to Gilgit if
required.

* The Dogr^s always call this place ^^Hasora,*' but its name in the
mouth of a Dard is Astor.

oM

152 THE ROUTE TO GILOIT.

At Astor and for many miles on there is one general
character of the valley ; at the bottom it is very narrow ;
the river is quite confined between the ends of great spurs
from the lofty mountain-ridges on both sides ; the cultiva-
tion is on very small spaces, usually some hundreds of
feet above the valley bottom. The hill-sides are partly
broken into cliffs and partly of a smooth surface, grown
over with grass in tufts, and with scattered bushes of
pencil-cedar, while in places sheltered from the sun
Pinvs excdsa grows, of small size, and makes a thin forest ;
above, the mountains often rise to lofty, rocky, and snowy
peaks.

Below Astor, as well as in the higher part of the valley,
are deserted lands which again tell of the raids of the
Chilasis. This part should be a country of fruit-trees, but
when the lands were deserted these perished for want of
water. On some of the terraced fields I saw forest trees
growing which must have been one hundred years old;
this shows that for long the same state of hostility and
insecurity had continued.

A mile or two below the village of Dashkin, we enter
an extensive pine forest; in this grows the edible pine
(P. Gerardiana), this being the only other locality in the
territories, besides Padar, where I have met with it.

Some miles more, and we get to the last spur, that
which overhangs the valley of the Indus. It is a sharp
spur-ridge, the Pass over which bears the name of Hatu
Rr. From this we look straight across the Indus Valley
on to a great steep mass of mountains, the greater part of
the surface of which is bare, either rock or talus, only in
the upper part pine-trees are dotted here and there; a

REACHING THE INDUS. 153

rayine comes down in front, by the side of which is a
small patch of cultivated land — the little village of
Thalicha. The river Indus winds through what, in a
large way, is a plain between two mountain-ridges, but
is really made of sloping fiEtns on both sides — stony
tracts — below the level of which flows the river, winding
and leaving little stretches of sand in the hollows of its
bends.

From Hatt Ptr there is a great descent, of about 5000
feet, by a zigzag road, steep and rough. We do not im-
mediately reach the Indus Yalley, but we go first to where
the end of the Hatt spur nearly meets the mountain on
the opposite side of the Astor Biver, leaving but a narrow
channel for the water. Here the Astor Biver is spanned
by two rope bridges made of birch twigs, and by a wooden
bridge over which ponies can be taken ; a tower has been
built that commands the passage ; the position is held by
some forty soldiers, who keep a good look-out. The place
is a strange one ; the soldiers live in caves in the rock ; the
rock overhangs, so as to keep off the sunshine for the
greater part of the day ; still the air becomes burning hot
in summer ; in winter, though no snow faUs, the cold is
somewhat severe.

Here crossing and following down the Astor Biver we
soon debouch into the Indus Valley and find ourselves on
the stony alluvial tracts, over nine miles of which, with
small ups and downs, we have to go before reaching
Bawanji. Down to this point, which is eighteen marches
from Kashmir, laden ponies are not uncommonly brought,
but there are many places very trying for them; the
worst is the descent of the Hatft Ptr. As far as Gilgit

154 TEE ROUTE TO OILGIT.

itself laden ponies are seldom taken, on account of there
being a few spots where it would be very difficult, if not
impossible, for them to pass.

Bawanji is a place where at one time was a good deal
of cultivation, and it is likely that fruit-trees once shaded
it; but during the wars of two or three generations
back it was laid waste and became entirely depopulated,
and nought but bare ground remained. At the present
time Bawanjt has a very small area under cultivation, but
the place is of some importance as a military post, since
on the holding of it depends the passage of the Indus on
the way to Gilgit. There is a fort which was built by the
Dogras ; it is manned by about seventy men, and as many
more are in barracks outside. There is here also a prison,
where a gang of incorrigible Kashmiri horse-stealers are
detained; these men enjoy during the day some liberty
for cultivating their plots of land.

The valley is warm and dry ; with irrigation two crops
can always be raised. In winter, snow seldom falls, but on
occasional years it may do so to the depth of an inch,
melting away with the first sun. The mountains round,
lofty, rocky, and bare, increase the summer's heat

The Indus is here a great river; it flows smoothly, with
a breadth of 160 yards, and a depth that is considerable.
In going to Gilgit one crosses it a mile or two above
Bawanji, the passage now being easily effected by a ferry-
boat. At that point there comes down on the right bank
the Se stream, and this one follows for some miles in
preference to the valley of the larger Gilgit River that
falls in higher up. But there is a 2000-foot ridge to

THE LAST STAGES. 155

cross from one valley to the other ; one march brings ns to
its foot, some twelve miles up the Se, Valley ; by the next
(a difficult one for horses) we reach a pleasant village in
the Gilgit Valley ; thence a short day's journey, the last
of the twenty-two from Kashmir, brings us to Gilgit
itself.

156 GILGIT AND THE FRONTIER.

CHAPTER X.

GILGIT AND THE FRONTIER.

From the mouths of the Dard people, when talking among
themselves in their own language, the sound of the name
of the country we have come to seemed to my ear such
as would properly be represented by the spelling Gilyit,
But all people of other races who have had occasion to use
the name — Kashmiris, Sikhs, Dogras, and Europeans —
have caught the sound as Gilgit, and used this form imtil
it has become so much known that it would be incon-
venient, not to say useless, for me to attempt to change
the name.

The district of Gilgit consists of the lower part of the
valley of a river tributary to the Indus, which, rising in
the mountains that bound Badakhshan and Chitral, flows
south-eastward until it falls into the great river, a little
above Bawanji. The length of the course of this Gilgit
River is 120 miles, which are thus divided, — Yasin in-
cludes a length of 60 miles, Punial of 25 miles, and Gilgit
of 35 miles. Yasin is beyond the Maharaja of Kashmir's
boundary ; Punial is within ,it, being governed by a Raja
dependent on and aided by the Maharaja's power ; Gilgit
is administered directly by the Maharaja's officers.

The lower part of the valley is from one to three miles
wide, and is bounded on each side by steep rocky moun-
tains; the valley itself contains stony alluvial plateaus,
the greater part of whose area is arid and barren, but in

THE FORT OF QILQIT. 157

front of each side ravine is a cultivated space, watered by
the side stream, on which is a collection of houses. The
line of mountains on the south-west side of the valley is
divided most regularly by these ravines. On the north-
east side the mountains are of an enormous size ; they are
well seen from the ridge separating the Se and Gilgit
valleys ; the rocky spurs lead back to lofty snowy peaks,
one of which is over 25,000 feet in height.

The village of Gilgit is on one of the watered tracts on
the right bank of the river ; here the cultivated ground is
not part of the fan of a side stream, but is on the flat plain
of the river alluvium, which makes a terrace thirty or forty
feet above the water. The cultivation occupies the space
of a square mile or so, extending from the liver bank to the
mountains, the irrigating water coming from the nearest
side stream. The houses here are flat-topped ; they are
scattered over the plain in twos and threes among groups
of fruit-trees, having been rebuilt in this way after the
destruction that occurred in the various wars to which
Gilgit has been subject ; it will take long for the village
to recover the abundance of fruit-trees which used to
prevail in it.

Tlie fort of Gilgit is the Maharaja's chief stronghold in
Dardistan. It has been at different times taken, destroyed,
rebuilt, added to, and altered. In 1870, when I was there,
the appearance of it from the south-west was as repre-
sented on the next page. The central part with the high
towers (one of them loftier than the rest) was bailt by the
ruler Gaur Bahman during his second reign in Gilgit,
when the Maharaja Gul&b Singh's troops had been for a
time dispossessed of it; this is built in the Dard style, of

158 OILOIT AND THE FBONTIES.

till..

t^trnj ,K

19 ;

PRODUCTIONS OF OILOIT, 159

a wooden framework for the wall, filled in with stones ; it
was really a strong work for the country. But since this
sketch was made, since I saw the place, changes have
occurred. In the spring of 1871 a severe earthquake
threw down a considerable portion of the fort, and it has
now, I believe, been rebuilt on a better plan.

Gilgit, by my reckoning, is 4800 feet above the sea.
Its climate is warm and dry, drier than that of Astor, and
snow seldom falls in the valley. The vegetable products
are the following — wheat, barley, naked barley, rice (in
Gilgit village only), maize, millet, backwheat, palse,
rape, and cotton ; and of fruits — mulberry, peach, apricot,
grape, apple, quince, pear, greengage, fig (not in any per-
fection), walnut and pomegranate; besides musk-melons
and water-melons. Silk is grown, but in very small
quantity ; the worm is smaller than that of Kashmir,
and the cocoon is small.

Gold is w«tshed from the river-gravels, as in many other
parts of the Indus basin ; here it is in coarser grains than
I have seen elsewhere, and the return for the labour of
washing is somewhat better. It would very likely repay
working on a larger scale than that now followed.

In this valley (as in other countries that we shall come
to) the contrast is great and sudden between the culti-
vated space, bearing good crops and various fruit-trees, and
the ground beyond, which is bare and stony, the vege-
tation being closely limited by the supply of water for
irrigation; nothing grows on the plain without its aid.
Not only is the plain bare, but the mountains also are
naked, of rock or loose stones without vegetation. Only
at the summit of the cliff that rears its head above Gilgit

160 GILGIT AND THE FRONTIER.

is some fir forest. The climate approaches to that degree
of dryness which may be called complete Tibetan.

Let us now travel up the valley as far as we may, and
see what there is at this extreme north-west comer of the
Territories, which is also the extreme northerly point
of the land aflTected by the sway of the British in India.

Four miles above the village and fort of Gilgit the
valley narrows ; still there is room for a few villages and
sites of deserted villages. After a day's march one leaves
the district of Gilgit and enters Punial.

Punial is a part of the valley which had long been held
by separate Kajas, sometimes I think independent, some-
times depending on one or other of their neighbours —
Tastn or Gilgit. The last result of the wars and dis-
turbances that for some generations so much affected
these valleys has been to leave Punial to a ruler of the
line of its old Bajas, but under the protection of, and in
close dependence on, the Maharaja of Kashmir. The
district thus held has a length of some twenty-five miles ;
within it there are nine villages, the chief of them being
Sher, on the left bank, where the Raja dwells.

A characteristic of this part of the valley is that often,
after every few miles, one comes to a place where the
space is narrowed for a short distance by spurs coming
down, so that tlie passage along is extremely difficult;
the name given to such places is darband^ or " shut-door";
they are of much importance from a military point of
view, since at each of them a few might stop an army
for a time; but there are usually two roads by which
they can be passed — a very difficult one along the cliff,
fit only for agile foot-passengers, and a bridle-path

PUNIAL, 161

that leads a thousand feet or more above ; again, in
winter, they can sometimes be turned by twice fording
the river.

That we have here come to a country exposed to the
attacks, or at all events the alarms, of surrounding
enemies, is shown by the arrangement of the villages.
At Sher itself, and from that place onwards, all the
villagers, with their wives and families and their cattle,
live within a fort ; village and fort are here synonymous.
Sher Fort is the strongest hereabouts; it has one face
to the bank of the river, whence its supply of water
cannot be cut oflf; all four sides are lofty walls with
towers. Inside, the whole area is covered, huts are built
over it all ; these huts are mostly of three stories, the
lowest is occupied by the cattle, the second is the usual
dwelling-place, and the third is the summer living-place ;
they are lighted by small openings in the roofs. The
Raja has a nice set of rooms in one comer. Besides the
country-people, there are a hundred irregular sepoys of
the Maharaja's army quartered in the fort; they occupy
the part next to the walls, while the villagers have the
centre. Thus the place is very much crowded.

Bvhar, which is also on the left bank, some fifteen
miles up (six thousand feet above the sea), is in the same
way a place where the villagers live in their fort. Fruit-
trees are thick on the ground. The vine is much culti-
vated ; it is grown in small vineyards with the plants at
irregular distances, many being old trees ; the whole of the
vineyard is covered with a framework of sticks supported
at a height of from two to four feet above the ground,
and over this the vines are trained ; some of these vine-

M

162 OILOIT AND TEE FRONTIER,

yards are immediately beoeath the walls ; they are con-
sidered as a good defence to the fort; I think it more
likely that the fort is a good defence to the vineyards,
which are apt to suflTer in a war. Bubar Fort is not quite
so strong as Sher, still it is reckoned one of those which
cannot be taken by force — the alternative, treachery,
is not an uncommon weapon in these countries. OtUmutiy
Singal, and the other villages in this part of the valley,
have the dwellings similarly enclosed in forts.

At evening, the people, who have been occupied in
their fields during the day, all come with their cattle
within the walls, and the gates are closed; all night
sentries watch on the towers, and every half hour the
** All's well " resounds through the stillness, though it
may get less frequent towards the sleepy hours of morning.
At dawn an armed party go forth and make the round of
all places that might possibly harbour an enemy, and not
until their search has proved that the village is clear do
others issue for their ordinary avocations. At the time I
marched up the valley the Maharaja's relations with the
Yasin chief were in a doubtful state, on account of the
murder of Mr. Hay ward, for which we were trying to get
reparation ; these precautions, therefore, may have been
more than usuedly attended to. I did not myself lodge
within the forts, but, having an escort of two hundred
meji from Gilgit, we were able to keep such a look-out as
effectually to prevent any surprise.

The highest point in the valley to which I went was
Gakdj. This is the last village in Punial; it is the
farthest in this north-west comer to which the Maharaja's
power or influence extends — and hence it is the farthest

TEE EXTREME BOUNDARY. 163

to which the influence of the Government of India reaches.
Gaklij is, by my observations, 6940 feet above the sea; it
is on a knob of rock behind which is a slaping plain. It
is a cold windy place ; snow falls there in winter to a
depth varying Irom six inches to one foot six inches, and
it stays three months ; here only one crop is grown, while
a few hundred feet down, two crops are got from the
land.

There is a strong fort at Gakftj, containing within it a
spring of water ; the garrison is composed of the villagers
— about fifty fighting men. Part of the plain is culti-
vated, but beyond stretches a stony expanse, backed
by mountains 3000 feet or so high, their sides dotted
with pencil-cedar bushes with pine forests above; this
strip of plain extends some eight miles up the valley,
at which distance a spur from the mountains comes down
and juts against the river, making a natural barrier. This
spot, called Ilupar, is the extreme point of the Maharaja's
territory ; here the Funial Kaja has a guard of six men,
who, on signs of an enemy approaching, would light a
signal fire ; for this reason no cooking of food is allowed
there, so the look-out party take a few days' provisions
ready cooked, to last until their relief. To hold the
position would require one or two hundred men. There
are two roads past it,, one of them only can be traversed
by horses.

At three other places is a guard kept. One is on the left
bank of the Gilgit River, a little lower down than Gakftj ;
one is on the left bank of the Ishkoman Biver (which
falls in from the north above GakAj), and one on its right
bank, near, I think, its junction with the main stream ;

164 QILOIT AND THE FBONTIER.

while ia Bammer a guard ia pnehed nearly a day's march
up the lahkoman Valley. The object is to reat-h the best
look-out place at each particular time of the year, aud
this must vary as the rivers become fordable or impassable.
The YfUtDts, OD the other hand, have a guard on the left
bank, opposite to fidpar.

It was in November, 1870, that I went through Punial.
The ruler is Itaja M Biigdur (a name sometimes cor-
rupted by strangers to Bahadur). We were together for
several days ; we travelled in company, and nearly every
day I joined him in a game of polo ; with such intercourse,
we naturally became well acquainted. He is a man who
has loug been at enmity with the Yastn family, and cow
entertains the most lively hatred of them ; in the various
tides of invasion, he has had to flee from his territory aud
take shelter now in Gilgit, now in Chil^, and now in
Kashmir. On the re-cooqnest of Gilgit by the Muhiiraja
(which will be related in another chapter) he was replaced
in his own country, which ever since he has held in
faithful dependence on the ATaharaja's Government, often
under difficult ciri-umstances. Though an old man he is
strong aud active; he is a capital, even a renowned, rider.
In character he is both brave and politic, and at the same
time both cautions and entrrprising. He is much feared
by his enemies and hked by his people; these obey him
implicitly ; it is their custom, on meeting him, to go up
and kiss his hand ; this, I believe, to' be the general old
custom in Dardistan, or at all events in that part of it
where the government is monarchical.

Of the countries beyond the frontier I will now say a
few words, though I myself did not visit them, Even

NEIOnBOURTNG STATES. 165

frajrments of information about places that are at present
inaccessible mav have a value.

Hunza and Nagar are two small independent rajaships,
situated opposite one another on that branch of the Gilgit
River which falls in a little below the fort. Nagar has
generally shown a desire to be on friendly terms with
the Dogras at Gilgit, while Hunza has been a thorn in
their side. The two are more separated than one would
fancy, by the river and by its steep aUuvial cliffs, which
here are of considerable height, and down which there
is hardly a path.

or Ya>in our information is that which was given by
the traveller Hay ward,* who lost his life by the treachery
of tiie ruler of that place. It is much such a country
as Gilgit and Punial — an alternation of small irrigated
village-spaces with long stony tracts — the mountains in
general rooky but with stretches of fir forests here and
there.

Lard is a valley to the west that has seven fort-villages,
a valley about a mile and a half wide ; here the air seems
moister ; deodar, pine, and oak grow on the hill-sides ;
the cultivation, I was told, is continuous along the whole
length of it. Vineyards abound; kine and goat are
plentiful. Most of the people during summer live up on
the hills, where pasture is to be found.

The sources of the Gilgit River lie in the great range of
mountains, called Mustagh, or in the ridge that runs from
it south to the Indus. Many of the streams have their
beginning in glaciers, for the mountains are lofty, and
b ar perpetual snow. Every path that leads over the

♦ ' Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society,* 1870.

166 OILOIT AND THE FRONTIER.

north bounding ridge must traverse a glacier. Such ways
are little frequented. A horseman indeed may go from
Yastn unto Badakhshan, but the road will be a continua-
tion of the worst of such ground as we have come over.
There will be narrow paths, rocky ledges, steep rises
and a glacier pa^ beyond. One road there is which, by
adding another Pass, will avoid the worst. From Gilgit
by Tasin to the Chitral Valley (where Mastftj is marked
on the map) and tbence north-east to Badakhshan, the way
has been traversed, not by armies, but by small bodies of
horse and foot, of the hardy people of the country.

THE DABB8. 167

CHAPTER XI.

THE dAbD people.

The existence of the Dai^ds as a separate race, as well as
something of their langaage, have for a good many years
been facts within the reach of readers of travels ; but the
information made known abont them has till lately been.
extremely meagre. Dr. Leitner has collected and ap-
pended to his own work the previously published notices
about this people and their country, and these show how
very little knowledge there was on the subject. "Du
Leitner visited Dardistan in 1866, and, having supple-
mented his inquiries of that time by investigations into
Dard dialects and customs made through men of the race
whom he gathered round him at L&hor, he has given the
results in a work that is of the greatest value to, and
deserves the hearty acknowledgment oi^ all who take
interest in tribes that have long lived separate, unknown
to all but their nearest neighbours, and a knowledge of
whose relationships may throw light on some of the most
weighty ethnographical questions.

Whether we judge from language or £rom physiognomy,
the conclusion is inevitable that the D&rds are an Aryan
race.

For physique; they are broad-shouldered, moderately
stout-built, well-proportioned men. They are active and

168 THE DARD PEOPLE.

enduring. They are good as mountaineers, and those who
have been used to act as porters are strong and quick in
the work ; but in some parts they have never been trained
to coolis' work, and will not undergo it In face they
can in general hardly be called handsome, but still they
have a rather good cast of countenance; their hair is
usually black, sometimes brown ; in complexion they are
moderately fair ; the shade is sometimes, but not always,
light enough for the red to show through it. Their eyes
are either brown or hazel. Their voice and manner of
speech is somewhat harsh; those who have learned
Panjabi have a particularly hard way of speaking that
language.

The photograph given of a group of Dards (after Frith)
is an admirable representation of some men of the race
who live in the neighbourhood of Dras ; these fellows are
as hardy and enduring as any men I have ever met with ;
though living in the most trying circumstances of climate,
they are not oppressed or weighed down by them, but
keep such a cheerfulness as the inhabitants of the most
favoured climes and countries may envy.

The disposition and bearing of the Dards is independent
and bold ; they will not endure to be put upon, but stand
out for their rights, and stand up against oppression as
long as possible. They are by no means soft-hearted ; but
they are not disobliging when taken in the right way.
For intellect, it seems to me that they are, as a race,
decidedly clever ; if not so ingenious as the Kashmiris,
yet they are both clear-headed and quick.

Such qualities as these make them a people that one
must sympathise with. A people who are bold and, though

THEIR APPEABANCE AND DRESS, 169

not caring much for human life, are not bloodthirsty ; a
people who will meet one on even terms, without syco-
phancy or fear on the one hand, or impertinent self-asser-
tion on the other ; such are not so often met with in the
East but that one welcomes and values them.

The dress of the Dards is woollen, except among the
higher people, who wear cotton clothes for the summer if
they can get them ; the dress consists of pyjamas, choga
(or gown-coat), a waistband to confine this, and lastly, a
cap and chaussure, both of peculiar construction. The cap
is a bag of woollen cloth half a yard long, which is rolled
up outwards at the edges until it gets to the size to fit
comfortably to the head, round which the roll makes a
protection from cold or from sun nearly as good as a
turban. For their feet they have strips and scraps of
leather put under and over and round the foot, and a long
thin strip wound round and round to keep all these in
place. The head-dress is thoroughly characteristic of the
Dards ; wherever they are scattered, and with whomsoever
they are mixed up — with the one exception of the Buddhist
Dards to be mentioned below — they keep that kind of
cap.

There are certain subdivisions of the Dard race which
may be called castes, since they are kept up by rules more
or less stringent against the intermarriage of those who
belong to different divisions. To trace these out is a
matter of much importance, for they probably give indica-
tions, if one knew how to interpret them, of the sources
from which the present community has been compounded,
and of the order of successive occupations of the country,
and of the supremacy of different nations.

170 TEE DAED PEOPLE,

According to my inquiries* the following are the im-
portant caste divisions in the order of their recognised
rank :

(1) Bona. (2) Shin. (3) Tashknn. (4) Kremin. (5) DOm.

As to the first, Bond, I am not clear .whether any im-
portance may be attached to the division. In no other
account have I seen the name mentioned, but in the Gilgit
country it is certain that a small number of families are
of a caste called Bonn, and that they are held higher
even than the Sh!a.

The remaining four castes are of undoubted importance
in an ethnographical view.

Beginning with the lowest of the four, we find the Dums
acting as musicians, like the low-caste Marasts of the
Panjab and the Domes of other parts of India ; and like
also the Bems of Ladakh and the Batals of Kashmir. It
will be remembered, too, that the lowest caste at Jummoo
— the outcasts to whom was relegated the lowest kinds of
work — is called Dum, though there the musicians and
dancers are not taken from among them. Thus all
through these hills, in all the difierent nations, we find a
lowest caste, one everywhere treated as unfit- for ordinary
social intercourse, corresponding in all the cases either in
name or in occupation, or sometimes in both. It is true
that in each nation that lowest caste has something of the
general characteristics of the nation as a whole. In every
case their language is the same as that of those they live
with, and has no connection with that of the similar caste

* The sabetaDce of this part of the chapter was oommnnicftted in a
paper which I read to the Oriental Congress that met in London in
September, 1S74.

CASTE DIVISIONS, 171

in the neighbouring nation. In form and features they
are somewhat like and somewhat diflFerent from those who
are in some measure their masters ; we saw that the Dftms
of the Outer Hills differ in form and complexion from the
men of the higher castes, and that the Batals of Kashmir
by no means equal the ordinary type of Kashmiri. Of
the Bems of Ladakh and the Dums of Dardistan I hardly
saw enough (for in truth they are few in number) to be
able to generalise about them in respect of this. But
even a resemblance more or less complete would not, in
my opinion, outweigh the probability derived from the
other facts, that in all these cases we have remnants of
the early, pre-Aryan race that inhabited India. Jf this
be so it is a new, and I think unexpected, fact, the exist-
ence of this race among the high mountains and in the
snowy country.

The Kremins seem to correspond in function with the
Kahdr$ of India (the Jiwars of the Panjab), for they act
as potters, millers, carriers, &c. Thus they are analogous
in position to the Sddras of India, and it seems likely
that they had an analogous origin, that they are descen-
dants (with some intermixture of blood) of those of the
aborigines who earliest and most easily coalesced with the
nation that overcame them. I do not find the Kremins
very numerous ; certainly there are not many in Gilgit.

The Yashkun is the most numerous of all the castes.
In Gilgit and Astor they are the body of the people,
whose chief occupation is, of course, agriculture. I think
that they and the Shin together made up the race (which
we may call Dard) that invaded this country, and took it
from the earlier inhabitants. What may have been the

172 THE DABD PEOPLE.

origin of that (probably previous) division into Shin and
Yashkun is a question which at present I see no way of
solving.

We now come to the Shirty the highest of the four
generally-distributed castes. In some isolated places they
make the majority, or even constitute the whole, of the
community ; but in Gilgit itself they are not so numerous
as the Yashkun, nor are they so in Astor.

There is a peculiarity of manners most strange and
curious attaching to some of the Dards. It belongs
especially, perhaps even solely, to this Shin caste. They
hold the cow in abhorrence ; they look on it in much the
same way that the ordinary Muhammadan regards a pig.
They will not drink cow's milk, nor do they eat or make
butter from it. Nor even will they bum cowdung, the
fuel that is so commonly used in the East Some cattle
they are obliged to keep for ploughing, but they have
as little as possible to do with them ; when the cow calves
they will put the calf to the udder by pushing it with a
forked stick, and will not touch it with their hands.

A greater, more astonishing, contrast between their way
of looking at a cow and the consideration which the
Hindfts give to the animal, it would be impossible to
conceive.

The Shin occur, mixed with Yashkun, along the Indus
Valley, and in those side valleys that immediately lead up
from it. The Yashkun, without any Shin, are found in
more distant places, in the upper parts of the valleys of
the Indus tributaries, namely, in Nagar, Hunza, Ishko-
man, Yasin, and Chitral.

The Dards are now (with the exception that will be

CUSTOMS AND RELIOION. 173

noted farther on) Muhammadan.* Formerly they had
some kind of idolatry, of which we know not much ; nor
do we know at what period they were converted to Islam.
At the time the Sikhs annexed Gilgit and Astor, the
people of those places were in some respects but very
weak Muhammadans. It so happened that the Sikh com-
mander, Nathfl Shah by name, was a Muhammadan and
a Syed ; he acquired over these Dards a great influence,
and he exerted it to make more strict Muhammadans of
them, to get them to attend more carefully to the forms
of their religion. It is a fact that before NathA Sh^h
came (say in 1842) the Astor people used to burn their
dead, and not bury them, as Muhammadans should. A
curious remnant of the custom still remains there — when
they bury they light a fire by the grave ; it is true they
will now tell you that they light the fire to keep oflf
jackals; this may be in some sense true, that is to say
they could hardly reconcile themselves to leaving the
body in its grave undestroyed, so they lit the fire as they
had been used to, and this satisfied them in giving some
security as against the beasts of prey, and at the same
time making a link with the past.

But it is not enough to say that these Dkr^ are
Muhammadan ; they are divided into three separate Mu-
hammadan sects — Suni, Shta, and Mol^

Suni and Shta require no description, as the division
exists in almost every part of the Muhammadan world.
The name of the Molai must have its origin from the

* Thid must be taken without prejudice to the question of the relation-
bhip of the Kafirs to the D&rds. It is true at all eTents of those who have
as yet been definitely classed as D&rds.

174 THE DARD PEOPLE.

Arabic Mavla, God, they thus calling themselves "the
Godly." In matters of prayer and fasting they follow
the Suoi ways ; but in creed (as regards the proper suc-
cession of Muhammad's successors to the E^altfat) they
are Shias.

The Molais and Shtas will drink wine, the Sunts will
not. Of the different castes, it would seem that the
people of each may belong to any of the three religious
sects; the religious differences do not depend on the
caste, but are more geographical.

I have now to record some facts as to an outlying
portion of the Dard race, which are of peculiar interest.
In a narrow part of the Indus Valley, which lies about
half-way between Skardt and Leh, are some villages in-
habited by Dards who follow the Buddhist faith, who,
though remnants left by a wave of immigration from the
direction of Gilgit, have so far amalgamated with the
Bhots that they obey the Lamas as spiritual leaders.

Muhammadan Dards reach up close to these Buddhist
Dards, but the villages of each are distinct. The following
places — villages and hamlets — are inhabited by the
Buddhist Dards: Grugurdo, Sanacha, Urdus, Darchifc,
Garkon, Dah, Phindiir, Baldes, Hand, Lower and Upper.

That they did come from the direction of Gilgit they
have a tradition, and many circumstances of language and
manners show that in spite of their being Buddhists in
religion they are one in origin with those Dards we have
been describing. But I think they belong to an earlier
immigration; probably a small number reached their
present seat and settled there, separated from the main
mass of their tribe-brethren,, at a time before the Dards

BUDDHIST DABD8. 175

were converted to Muhammadanism, so that the transition
from their ancient faith to Buddhism was not difficult.
At that time the neighbouring Baltis also may still have
been Buddhists. Later, when the Dards had become
Muhammadan, they spread again in this direction, and
the new comers have become next-door neighbours to the
earlier migrants.

These Buddhist Dards are a dreadfully dirty people, far
more so than any other tribe I have ever met mth ; their
faces are blotched with black dirt, which they never think
of removing. As a means of purifying, instead of washing,
they burn twigs of pencil-cedar, and let the smoke and
the scent from it come over them and inside their clothes ;
they do this before eating, not perhaps generally but on
feast-days, and at other times when they think purifica-
tion to be necessary. Their women, who are not shy of
being seen, surpass even the men in dirtiness, and alto*
gether are the most miserable of objecta

Their religion, I think, lies easy upon them ; they are
not so attentive to its ordinances as the Lad&khts; and
I do not think that any of their young men are trained
up to the priesthood. Their dead they bom, and the
bones of them they stow away in holes in the eliff, dosiog
up these with stones.

Leaving now the Buddhist D&rds, we will note a few
facts that concern the race generally.

It has been seen from the map that the D&rds have
spread, driven by want^ or by oppression, or by disturb-
ances, from their own countries across certain ridges into
valleys that were occupied by other races ; in these they
often live side by side with those other races — as with the

176 TBE DABD PEOPLE.

Kashmtrts and the Baltts — sometimes in villages separate,
sometimes occupying part of the same village.

At Boiidd the D&rds nearly equal the Baltts ; the two
do not intermarry. At B^ho also the two races are abont
half and half, but here they have intermarried, and the
distinctiveneBS has been brokea up.

At Dras the Dards (who here are Sunts) form more
than half the community, the others being Baltis, who
are Shtas.

Wherever the Dards are in contact with Baltts or with
Bhols, these others call tbem (whether they be Muham-
madan or Buddhist Dards) Brt^cpd or Blokpd. The word
Brok or Blok means in Tibetan a high pastare-groond,
and Brok| a or Blokpa must mean a " highlander." The
origio of this appellation for the Dards I take to be thii',
that they first came in contact with the Baltts by coming
over the Passes aod settling in the higher parts of the
valleys, parts that perhaps had been left unoccupied.

There is a colony of Kashmtil among the Dards at
Grilgit, or rather there is an infusion of Kashmtrt blood in
a certain seotion of the Gilgit people ; many generations
back there must have been a settlement of Eashmtrta,
who took unto themselves Gilgitt wives. The descen-
dants have lost the language and the ways of Eashmir,
and to a stranger's eye they are quite Gilgit^ but the
D3,rd8 themselves distinguish, and, as to intermarrying,
keep separate from them.

There is one other peculiarity belonging to a class,
which may be an ethnological variation due to a strain of
the Dard. In general the class of Bajas in Baltistan are
not only better looking than the ordinary Baltt, but have

VILLAGE PARLIAMENTS, 177

certain differences of cast of face. The Bajas are of
several different stems, more or less connected by marriage ;
it is not uncommon to see them with a light complexion
and light eyes and a hooked nose, in all these respects
differing much from their Balti subjects, and resembling
the Dards.

These Baltis are the neighbouring race, of whom we
shall learn something a few chapters on.

Returning now to Gilgit and the places round, where
all or nearly all are Dards, we find that the forms of
government to which they have been used (putting aside
the rule of the Sikhs and the Dogras) are different in
different valleys.

In the valleys of the tributaries of the Gilgit Eiver, and
in Mastuj and ChitrS,), there is despotism — untempered
absolutism; in those which lead to the Indus, watered
by streams that fall in below Bawanjt, there are repubb'cs
free and democratic. The following places are known
to me as having republican govemment: Darel, Tangir,
Gor, Thalicha, Chilas, Koli, Palus.

Thalicha I may specially mention as being the smallest
independent state in the world ; it is a little village of
seven houses, self-governed.

In these republics there is a general assembly of the
people, called Sigas, which decides on almost every
matter. It is called together by beat of drum ; men, old
and young, attend it, but not women ; none who have the
right to attend are allowed to be absent, under pain of
fine. In this assembly the rights of a minority are care-*
fully guarded. I have been told that if even one man,
supposing him to be of any consideration, object to a

N

178 THE DARD PEOPLE.

policy, it cannot be carried oat ; the assembly is ad-
jonmed for a few days, and in the interral eSbrt is made
either to convince the objector, or to modify the proposal.
Then meeting, they may perhaps have again to adjourn ;
but in time something or other is sure to be arranged.

The executiye consists of a few men, perhaps five or six,
chosen by the people in their assembly. These are called
Joshtero in the Dard language. They are chosen for their
wisdom ; but here, as elsewhere, wealth seems to have in-
fluence to coDTince the people of the wisdom of those who
possess it. The oflfice of Joshtero is not hereditary ; the
Joshteros mast be in general accord with the assembly,
else they will be displaced. The Joshteros deliberate toge-
ther on a policy, but they cannot carry it ont without the
consent of the assembly of the people, which they Ihem-
eelves call together. The Joshteros are also arbitrators
to settle disputes of water, wood, and the like.

Where the Talley is laige, as, for instance, Darel, each
village has its own Sigas, or assemblv, which settles the
particular affairs of that village; for matters of more
general policy the Joshteros of all the villages first meet,
and make among themselves a plan to propose, and
then a general parliament is called ; that is, the people
themselves of all the villages together meet to hear and
decide. If all of the villages cannot agree on one policy,
then each is free to pursue its own without severing the
federal bond. Thus I have heard that some villages have
joined with one power — have agreed to pay tribute — while
others of the same valley have done the same to the rival
power. But there must be some limit to this. They
could not, of course, actively join on opposite sides.

REPUBLICS AND DESPOTISMS. 179

My knowledge of the working of these institutions is
very incomplete. On the whole, I incline to think that
with the republics there is less of wars of ambition than
with those valleys that are governed by an hereditary
ruler; less of bloodshed on a large scale, such as is
brought about by or for the dispossession of dynasties.
But I do not think that the internal state is so secure and
(|uiet as under a Raja ; in the republics personal inde-
pendence and liberty of action are so much the rule, that
no one interferes to prevent even violence.

aiLOlT EISTOST.

CHAPTER XII.

GILOIT eiSTOEY.

As far back as the time of any traditioo known to me,
Gilgit liae been govemed by Bajas ; it has not been of
those valleys ruled by a democracy, such as we have jost
described.

The early Rajas of Gilgit were called Trakane ; that
was the name of their caste or family. This caste is now
estioct, except that the present titular Raja has a slight
strain of that blood from the female side.

The last of the Trakane line was named Abas; with
him ended the independence of Gilgit ; henceforward the
valley was devastated by successive invasions of the neigh-
bouring Rajas, who, each in turn, first acquired the
country, and then was defeated and killed by some other.
In the twenty or thirty years ending with 1842 there were
iive dynastic revolutions in Gilgit, as follows: —

(1) Sulaiman Shah, ruler of Y&stn, of the Bakhte caste
or iiamily, conquered Gilgit.

(2) Azad Kh&n, ruler of Punial, killed Sulaiman Shah
at Sher, and ruled in his stead in Gilgit.

(3) Tair Shah, ruler of Nagar, displaced and killed
Azad Khan ; he himself died a natural death, and was
succeeded by his son, Sliah gakandar.

(4) Gaur Rahman, ruler of Yaslo, conquered Gilgit
and killed Shah Sakandar.

DYNASTIC CHANGES, 181

(5) Karira Khan, brother to Shah Sakandar, who was
killed, with the aid of a Sikh force, expelled Gaur Rah-
man from Gilgit a year and a half after his acquisition
of it.

This brings us to the year 1842, and from that time
Gilgit history becomes bound up with Kashmir; from
here onwards it is known in more detail.

But first I must speak of Gaur Bahman, who, though
expelled at this stage, will again appear on the scene in a
prominent part. He was a man of bloodthirsty nature ;
as much so perhaps, though he had not the same opportu-
nities of killing on a large scale, as Theodore of Abyssinia.
There are many tales told of his ferocity and brutality ;
the Dards generally are rather careless of life, but with
his deeds they were disgusted. I believe it to be a fact
that on one occasion at least he killed a young child by
throwing it up and cutting it in the air with his sword.
And I cannot doubt the truth of this that I heard, that»
he stopping at Naupura, on a village headman being
brought before him on some complaint, or else coming to
complain of his people, Gaur Rahman beckoned him
near, and then, with his sword, cut the man's head oflf
with a blow ; then he would let no one touch the body to
bury it, but would have it devoured by the dogs. They
say that when he was ill he would have some men killed
for niydz, that is, as a propitiatory sacrifice. He seems to
have had a special enmity and spite against the people of
Gilgit, wlio suffered terribly under his two reigns, but to
have spared the Punial people.

Gaur Bahman married first the maternal aunt of Iman-
ul-Mulk, ruler of Chitral ; secondly, the sister of the same

182 OILGIT BISTORT.

Iman-ul-Mnlk ; and, thirdly, the daughter of Az&d Khan,
of Fnni£I. From the first marrj^e he had two sons,
Mvlk Jmdn (named after his grandfather) and Mir Walt ;
from the second marriage he had a son, Pahlwan Bahadur,
who is also called Ghnlam Mahai-nd-d!n ; from the third
marriage he had two sons, one was Mir Ghdzl, the other
(whofie name I do not know) was killed by his half brother
Malk Iman.

Ganr Bahman, as stated above, coming from Y&^,
conquered Gilgit and killed the then ruler, Baja Shah
Sakandar. Shah Sakandar's brother, Eartm Khan, having
escaped to Gor, from there sent an agent to the Sikh
Governor of Kashmir imploring aid. The appeal was
responded to. A couple of Sikh regiments were sent
under Colonel NathA Shab. This was about the year
1842. Up to this time the Sikhs bad not occupied the
intermediate country of Astor, but they had made it tribu-
tary to them ; now on advancing they established a post
there to make their communications snre.

Nathd Shah encountered Gaur Bahman (who seems to
have reliaquisbed Gilgit itself) at Basin, three miles
higher up the valley, and defeated him ; Gaur Rahmaa
retired into Punial.

Shortly afterwards, in the same year, one Mathra Das,
having boasted to the Sikh Governor of Kashmir that
he could easily settle the whole country of Gilgit, was
sent to supersede Nathd Sbah. Coming to Gilgit, Mathra
Das went forward to the frontier by Sharot with part of
the Sikh force, Nathfl Shah retaining the rest. Gaur
Rahman attacked Mathra Das and his force in the stony
plain between Sharot and Gulp^r, and defeated them with

SIKHS AND DOGRAS IN GILOIT. 183

f^reat loss, having here some horsemen to aid him. Mathra
Uas himself ran straight away to Kashmir; but Nathft,
who was really a soldier, came up with his reserve from
Gilgit and prepared to engage Gaur Bahmrin. But before
they came to blows negotiations were entered into, and the
strange result was that it was agreed the Sikhs should
hold Gilgit, the boundary being drawn where the two
forces were confronting each other, that being, indeed, the
usual boundary of Gilgit, and that Gaur Bahman should
give his daughter in marriage to Nathii Shah, the com-
mander of the Sikhs. Not only was this done, but the
Hunza Kaja (Ghazan Khan) and the Nagar Baja, who
were there as allies to Gaur Bahman, did the same thing ;
each gave a daughter to Nathd Shah, and peace was made
all round.

Of course Nathft Shah did not give over Gilgit com-
pletely to Baja Kaiim Khan, who had called in his aid,
but there was a kind of joint government established.
Kariin Khan had certain dues from the people allotted to
him ; further imposts were, 1 think, made for the Sikh
Government ; a small Sikh force was fixed at Gilgit, and
NathA Shah himself returned to Kashmir, or rather (for
reasons connected with the Sikh troubles which were then
brewing) passed through Kashmir, avoiding Sirinagar, to
the Pan jab.

Thus were things settled ; and this was the state that
Maharaja Gulab Singh succeeded to when he received
Kashmir in accordance with the two treaties made by the
r>ritish, with the Sikh Darbar in one case, and himself in
the other.*

* See Chap, uu

1 84 QILGIT HISTOR Y,

On Eashmiry and with it Gilgit, being ceded to Gulab
Singh, Nathi& Shah left the Sikhs and transferred his ser-
vices to the new ruler, and went to take possession of
Gilgit for him. In this there was no diflSculty. The
Dogra troops relieved the Sikh posts at Astor and Gilgit.
Most of the Sikh soldiers took service under the new
rulers; they were few in number, those at Gilgit being
perhaps not more than one hundred.

The state of peace did not long continue. It was
broken by the Hunza Kaja making an attack on the
Gilgit territory and plundering five villages. Nathd
Shah led a force up the valley of the Hunza Kiver to
avenge this attack ; but his force was destroyed, and he
himself was killed, as also was Earim Ehan, the titular
Raja of Gilgit, who had accompanied him.

Gaur Bahman, too, who at this time governed Punial
and Yasin, joined in against the Dogras ; the people of
Darel joined also. Gilgit Fort fell into the hands of these
allies.

To put things right, Maharaja Gulab Singh sent two
columns, one from Hasora and one from Baltistan ; there
was some fighting, and then peace was made on the basis
of the former state of things. After this a few years
went by without • any great disturbances, until events
occurred which caused the Maharaja to lose all of Dar-
distan that he possessed on the right bank of the Indus.

In 1 852 Sant Singh was Tbanadar, or Commander, a*
Gilgit Fort ; there was another fort at NaupAra, a couple
of miles off, held by a Gurkha regiment of the Maha-
raja*s, under Eam Din, commandant ; and one Bhup Singh
was in command of the reserves at Bawanji and Astor.

A TTA CK BT GA UB BABMAN. 185

I do not know what it was that made Ganr Bahm&n to
perceiye^ and urged him to take advantage of, his oppor-
tunity. He suddenly brought a force that surrounded and
separated the two forts.

Bb^p Singh, hearing of this, advanced to their relief
with some 1200 men. He crossed Ntla Dh&r, the ridge
which separates the Se and Gilgit valleys, and had reached
to the bank of the Gilgit Biver, where there is a narrow
space between the water and the alluvial cliff; the path
here rises from the level of the stream to an alluvial plat-
form, two or three hundred feet above it^ by a narrow
gully. But here he found the road stopped by the
enemy ; the D&rds had barricaded every possible channel
of access, they had built sangars, or stone breastworks^
across every gully that led to the higher ground. And
the Dards had also managed, by passing along difBcult
mountain paths, to get to the rear of the Dogrfts, so that
their retreat by the way they had come was made equally
difficult with their advance. The river by their side was
swift and deep, there was no hope to be gained from that;
at the same time the Hunssa people assembled with ad*
verse intent on the left bank opposite, within gunshot. In
short, Bhdp Singh was caught in a trap. Thus encircled,
he was helpless unless by main £Dro6 he could push his
way up one of the defiles.

The D&rds then began to play the game of double*
dealing, in which they are adepts.* T^7 promised
Bhiip Singh provisions, for of these he was quite shorti

* IdonotmeantofaythatliieDAidaAMmiiehgiTaalodoiibMMIiig
I think that the D&rd ohAraoter, tl all eveott oC the lower olasMS, is pnth
rally straightforward. Bat in war tbej woold ooont ineh a weapon quite
a fair one, and oertainlj they oan make good use of It

186 GILOIT HISTORY.

and a safe passage back if be w ould agree to retire. This
he consented to do, and he waited for days in hopes
of the food coming. The Dards kept him in expectation,
and fed bis hopes ; one might almost fancy that they had
learnt a lesson from Akbar Khan of Kabul. Thus for
seven days the Dogras were kept without food ; and only
then, when they were so reduced in strength as to be
helpless, did the enemy begin their attack. The Hunza
people fired from the left bank, while Gaur Rahman's army
sent from the summits of the alluvial cliffs close above
a storm of bullets and stones that soon overwhelmed the
force. Near a thousand died on the spot ; a hundred or
two were taken prisoners and sold into slavery.*

While the Maharaja's reserve was thus being disposed
of, a somewhat similar tragedy was being done upon his
troops at Gilgit and Naupura, who, we saw, had been
separately surrounded. Naupftra is on a fan plateau,
250 feet above the Gilgit plain. An adjutant, with two
or three hundred men, sallied from Gilgit Fort, in order
to succour the garrison of Naupura ; they divided into
two parties, those who went by an upper path were cut
to pieces, the others succeeded in throwing themselves
into the fort. But here, too, rations failed, and, besides,
the supply of water was cut off by the enemy. Then
began negotiations as before, and the force was allowed to
retire. They were being passed down, when, as I hear,
one of the Dards made a grab at a gold earring which the
commandant wore; this he resisted, and the affray was
the signal for a general assault on the Dogra troops.
These collected themselves into a walled enclosure — the

* One of these suryiTors ib now, they saj, a rich merchant in Y&rkand.

THE DOGRAS EXPELLED. 187

place abounds with such — and defended themselves gal-
lantly for a whole day, but they were at last overpowered;
about three hundred were killed, and a few were made
slaves. Eighteen years later I met one of these ; he was
a Eajput, but he had been forced to become a Muham-
madan for the sake of his life. He was taken into the
household of one of the family of Gaur Bahman^ and
grew into a position of great confidence there, and had
become bound up in feeling with the Dards.

Then came the turn of Gilgit Fort. I do not know
exactly how it was managed (for where the destruction
was so thorough it is not easy to get the evidence of eye-
witnesses) ; but I believe that in somewhat the same way
all the garrison came into the hands of the Dards and
were killed. The Gurkha soldiers in the Maharaja's
army, as in the British, take their families with them on
service. Their wives were in Gilgit Fort; these were all
killed excepting one, who, throwing herself into the river
that flows by the fort, managed to cross it and reach the
Indus, and to cross that also to Bawanjt They say that
she swam the Indus holding on to a cow's tail. At all
events she escaped to tell the story, and she now receives
a pension in Kashmir.

Thus, as before said, the Dogras were expelled from all
that part of Dardistan which is on the right bank of the
Indus. Gaur liahman again ruled in Gilgit.

From the time when these events happened, from the
year 1852, onwards for eight years, the Maharaja's boun-
dary, below Haramosh, remained at the Indus; above
Haramosh, that is, in Baltistan, he possessed the country
on both sides of the river. A considerable force was kept

188 QILOIT HISTORY,

at Bawanji; and it seems to have been Gulab Singh*
fixed policy to advance no farther.

In 1857 the present Maharaja, Banbir Singh, succeedec
his father, Gulab Singb^ and he soon formed in his mine
the intention of regaining on the frontier what had beei
lost, and re-establishing the name and reputation of hi
armj. At first, however, his attention and his resourcei
were employed in the operations attending the Indiai
Mutiny ; it was not until 1860 that he found opportunity
for settling the affairs of Gilgit in the way he desired.

A force crossed the Indus and advanced on Gilgil
under the command of a man who was a thorough soldiei
Colonel (now General) Devi Singh, Narainia. In th<
interval of eight years Gaur Bahman had built the for
described in Chapter x., and this was thought by th(
Dards to be a work quite impregnable; but the Dogra
determined to attempt its conquest

It so chanced that just before Devt Singh's fore
reached Gilgit, Gaur Eahman himself died. The new
undoubtedly disheartened his people in Gilgit ; they di<
not make much resistance to the assault. A cannon ba]
which passed through the door of the fort killed th
Wazir. This decided them to give in, and Gilgit agai;
belonged to Jummoo; and since then the hold of th
Dogras on the fort itself has never been lost.

Beckoning, doubtless, on a general disorganization c
the Yasin power from Gaur Bahman's death, the Dogr
leader determined to advance farther, to follow up th
victory. He and his army were actually able to reae
Yasiu, which they took ; but to hold it was no part c
their plan, so after a few days they retired to Gilgit

BE-C0NQUE8T B7 THE D00BA8. 189

They had, however, placed on the gaddl, or throne, at
Yasin, one Azmat Shah, a son of Sulaimftn Sh&h, the old
ruler of Yasln and inyader of Gilgit ; this Azmat Sh&h
being, as near as I can make out, first coosin to Oaur
Bahman. The idea was that Azmat Sh&h at T&8tn would
remain on peaceable and friendly terms with the Maha-
raja's authorities at Gilgit But the plan would not
work ; no sooner had the Dogr& force turned their backs
than the Yastnts expelled their nominee, and poor Azmat
Shah had to flee for his life. This was all done so quickly
that when the Dogr& army on their return reached Gilgit,
which is but half-a-dozen marches from Y&stn, they found
Azmat Shah already there a refugee, he haying come by
a mountain path in his flight.

At the conclusion of the war the state of things was
this : — One of Gaur Bahm&n's sons, Mulk Im&n by name,
had succeeded him, and was ruler of Y&stn, of nearly the
whole of the original fieunily po6session& Baja 'Is& B&g-
dur held Punial, in dependence on the Maharaja. The
Maharaja's own officers and troops occupied the country
of Gilgit, that which of old belonged to the Bajaship <tf
Gilgit. Nor have many changes taken place since; or
rather the result of them has been to bring things nearly
to the same state after the yarious events which we will
now speak ot These may seem but petty, yet their rela-
tive importance is the greater the nearer they are in time
to the present, since from them can be drawn considera-
tions which may tell on the Aiture politics of this fiantier«

After the war, though for a time peace prevailed, there
was a feeling of stifled enmity between the two sides,
which was sure before long to show itself in aciioiL

190 QILOIT HISTORY.

Various events occurred, among them the plunder an<
detention of a merchant sent by the Maharaja to bu]
horses, on his way from Badakhshan through Yasin, whicl
determined the Maharaja to send a punitive expedition t(
Yasin. Early in the year 1863, a force was led by Colone
(now General) Hoshiyara, a bold, dashing, perhaps rash
leader, to Yasin. Little resistance was made at the plac<
itself. But the Yasin people and forces were collected a
a fort called Marorikot, about a day's march higher u]
the valley, the women and children also having takei
shelter within that fort. Thither the Dogr&s followed
on their approach the Yasinis came out to give battle ii
front. The Yasinis were defeated and broken. Som<
fled to the hills, among whom was the Baja, Mulk Im&n
others fled to the fort. These the Dogras in hot pursui
followed in before the gates could be closed, and ther<
began first a hand-to-hand fight, and then the indiscrimi
nate slaughter that is so apt to follow the taking of i
place by assault.

This complete defeat brought down the Yasin leaders
and made them submissive. The Dogras, indeed, at one
retired to their old boundary, but for a few years Yasi;
was in some sense tributary ; that is, the chiefs sent thei
agents to Jummoo with presents, and they were anxiou
to keep on good terms with the Maharaja ; and with goo
management this state of things might have been kept u
till now.

But the want of political ability in those who were sei
in command to Gilgit, as well as circumstances over whic
they themselves had no control, hindered a good undei
standing being kept up with the tribes.

FURTHER DISTURBANCES. 191

I do not know on what special quarrel disturbances
again began ; but in the year 1866 the Gilgit authorities
under the Maharaja found Hunza such a thorn in the side
that they arranged an attack on that place, the Nagar
people promising aid so far as to allow a passage through
their country. This, indeed, was aid of the greatest im-
portance ; for the difficulty of approaching Hunza, on
account of certain defiles to be passed, is probably greater
than that of taking the forts when you reach them.

The Dogra force advanced on the Nagar side of the
river, the left bank, and reached a place opposite to and
within gunshot of one of the Hunza forts. But the way
across to it did not seem easy — the river flows between
cliffs of some height, probably alluvium or fan cliffs — and
it was said that no practicable road could be found down
and up them.

After a few days it seemed that the Nagar people were
beginning to fall away from the alliance. The Dogras
began to be suspicious of them, and this distrust very
likely brought about its own justification. At last, one
evening, a report spread among the Dogras that the
Nagaris were upon them. A panic struck them, and
they retreated, or more accurately perhaps fled, though
no enemy was attacking them. In this disgraceful way
they returned to Gilgit.

Things did not stop here. This display of weakness on
the part of the Dogras caused all their old enemies to
combine to try and exi)el them. A most formidable con-
federation of all the tribes round was made. Waz!r
Eahmat, the Yasin VVazlr, was, they say, the soul of this
combination. A year or two before he had paid his

192 OILGIT HISTOBT.

respects to the Maharaja at Jummoo, coming on the pari
of the Yasla Baja. He had now accompanied the Maha
raja's force to Nagar, and for some time after its returr
had encamped at Gilgit ; but one day, leaving his camp
standing, he disappeared. He made his way to Yastn.

In a month or two a considerable army invaded Gilgit
The Yastn ruler had now looked for aid across the moun*
tains to Chitral, and from there came a force of horse and
foot, led by Iman-ul-Mulk, the Raja of Chitral. These,
with the Yaslnls and the Darelis (from Darel, one of the
valleys on the south-west of Gilgit), environed Gilgil
Fort, while the Hunza and the Nagar people, now in con-
junction, occupied the left bank of the river, opposite the
fort. The Baja of Chitral was the man of most import
ance of all the leaders.

The invading force, either reducing or investing the
forts of Punial, approached and surrounded the fortress o:
Gilgit, on the fate of which hung the state of the whole
valley. The besiegers expected that it soon would fall
for they had heard that it had provisions to last foi
a week or two only ; so they closely blockaded it, ane:
were able to repel all sallies. But, in truth, the fort wai
better provisioned than they thought.

Meanwhile news of this state had reached Kashmir
and the Maharaja had sent off reinforcements with greal
expedition under the charge of Wasir Zuraorft andColone!
Bija Singh. At Bawanjt, on the river, they met witl
some opposition ; but when once they had effected i
landing on the right bank of the Indus, and the news hac
reached Iman-ul-Mulk, he and his troops and allies de
camped and got safely back to their own countries.

EXPEDITION TO BABEL. 193

The whole confederation had melted away. Thus dif-
ferent was the conduct of it from the energetic action of
the Yasiii troops, who, fourteen years before, succeeded in
expelling their enemies from the Gilgit Valley.

The Dogra force now assembled in Gilgit was, for that
barren country, very large ; there were, I think, 3000
soldiers, and they were accompanied by a great number
of coolis to carry supplies. The leaders began to revolve
in their minds what should be done, what punishment
should be inflicted, and on whom, as a retribution for the
late invasion ; but it was long before they could come to
a decision. Wazir Zuraorfl wished to attempt something,
but something that was sure of success ; an old and trusted
servant of the Maharaja's house, now declining in years,
he did not wish that his reputation should be dulled at
last by a failure. After much time wasted in hesitation,
an expedition to Darel was determined on.

The expedition started in September (1866).* The only
opposition met with was from a barricade formed of felled
trees and stones in one of the branch valleys of Darel ;
this was defended by Mulk Iman of Yasin, with some
of his own people, who were more used to fighting than
were the Darelis. But the Dogras scaled the heights
and turned the position, and the enemy had to flee.
There was no more opposition ; the country of Darel lay
open to the invaders.

As will be seen from the map, this Darel Valley leads
southward to the Indus. There are seven village-forts
in it ; the Dogras only reached four of them ; the one

* It was while this expedition was on hand that Dr. Leitner visited

Gilgit.

194 OILGIT EI8T0BT.

they came to first on descending from the ridge that they
crossed was the highest in the valley. All the inhabitants
had fled to the mountains ; there was not even a woman
or a child to be seen ; the cattle even had all been
driven off. The Dogras stayed a week. Some of the chief
men of Darel came in and made their submission; as
snow was about to fall on the hills behind, it was con-
venient to make that a reason for retiring. So the force
returned, with some losses by cold, chiefly among the
accompanying Kashmiri coolis. The Dogras certainly
had shown the Darelts that their country was not inacces-
sible, and doubtless they left their mark on it. After this^
a great part of the force returned to Kashmir, and the
usual garrison was established in Gilgit.

Since then there has been one other attack on Punial
by the Yaslnis, and a raid of the Hunza people on the
village of Niomal, of which they took away all the in*
habitants, selling some into slavery. Little else of im-
portance has happened in the Gilgit territory.

But certain changes soon occurred at Y&sin, which have
au interest for us as affecting the fate of an English-
man who found his way there, bent on geographical ex-
ploration.

We saw that Mulk Iman, Gaur Rahman's eldest son,
succeeded to power on the death of his father, and had,
during the later hostilities, led the Yasin forces. Soon
after the events last described, Mulk Iman and his bro-
ther, Mir Wali, fell out. Mir Wali, getting aid from
Iman-ul-Mulk of Chitral, expelled Mulk Iman, and him-
self became ruler in Yastn. At the same time he
became a tributary to, or, more than that even, a

POLITICS OF TASm 195

dependeut od, the Raja of ChitrSL Pahlwau Bahadur,
a half brother, received from the same chief the go-
veriiorahip or rajaship, whichever it may beat be called,
of 3[asluj, OD the Cbitral side of the motmtains. Thtis
Cliitral, Mastilj, and YasiQ became bound np together.
The relation of all these to the Maharaja's officers at
Gilgit consisted in keeping and being kept at aim's
length. As a rule, the Maharaja's agents eoold not safely
enter the other territories, but some messengers from
Ya^in or Chitral used to come to Oilgit, knowing they
need not fear for their lives, and hoping to carry away
some present worth having in return for the smooth
messages they delivered.

Id the begiuning of the year 1870, Lieut. Geoige W.
Hayward came to Gilgit. He had been sent out by the
Koyal Geographical Society of London with the object of
exploriug the Famir Steppe. In prosecution of this ob-
ject he had gone to Yarkand and Easbgar, from which
places he had, in the previous year, returned to the
Panjab, unsuccessful as to his main end, uot having been
allowed to approach the Famii from the side of Yarkand,
but with a store of information about Eastern Turkistau.
With an enthusiasm for his purpose that was cbarac-
tcriatic of bim, he determined to run the risks of a
journey through Yasin and Badakhsh&n to the place
which was his goal Though warned by many of the
dauger of putting himself in the power of such people as
the Yasin and Chitral rulers — I myself introduced to
him men who knew their ways, and declared them to
bo utterly devoid of failk — he started on the journey.

The first thought was that there would be difficulty in

196 QILQIT HISTORY.

enteriDg the Yasia country, that the chief would refuse
admission to Hayward ; but it did not turn out so. It
chanced that an agent of Mir Wall's had on some pretext
come to G-ilgit, and was there on Hay ward's arrival ; by
his hands he sent a letter and presents, and in due time
an answer came from Mir Wali to the eflfect that he
would be glad to see him. So he went, was hospitably
received, and was taken about to some of the valleys for
sport. This was in the winter when the snow was on the
ground ; there was no prospect, for three months or more,
of the road to Badakhshan being open. Hayward, though
on good terms with the ruler, did not think it wise to wear
out his welcome by staying all that time, but determined
to return to the Panjab and make a fresh start in the
early summer. It was almost a necessity that in return
for such attentions he should give his host, who was well
known as an avaricious man, almost all that he had that
was suitable for presents. He promised, besides, that
which was expected to be of more value. He engs^ed
to represent to the Governor-General what Mir Wall
had persuaded him to consider his rightfiU claims to
Gilgit.

The reader of the preceding pages will at once see that
Mir Wali had no more original right to Gilgit than the
Maharaja had. His father, Gaur Bahman, had conquered
it from some one who had conquered it from some one
else ; and although, some four dynasties back (about one
reign goes to a dynasty here), a relation of Gaur Bahman's
possessed Gilgit, yet he also only gained it by the same
means as those by which his successor wrested it from

VISIT OF EAYWARB. 197

him. The Sikhs, tlie Maharaja's predecessors, had con-
quered Gilgit from Gaur Rahman, and, after more struggles
between the two powers, neither of whom had any better
claim to it than the sword, it had finally remained with
the Maharaja.

But little of this did Hayward know. He adopted the
views of Mir Wall, and promised his aid in getting them
brought before the British Government. He did, in fact,
bring them before the Governor-General; nothing was
done about it ; nothing could have been done about it.
But Mir Wall meanwhile was sanguine. He had, I believe,
put down Hayward for a British agent, and he built upon
his endeavours.

Hayward returned to Yasin in July (1870), and at once
it was clear that the former cordial terms would not
prevail. Mir Wall was vexed at his having effected
nothing for him, was vexed to see the now large mass of
baggage, containing untold wealth in the very things he
would like to have (for they had been provided as gifts for
the people beyond Yd»tn), going out of his grasp, and was
vexed at Hayward's not agreeing to the route (through
Ciiitral) that he was desired to take ; lastly, he was
enraged at an encounter of words that took place between
guest and host. For one used to have his own way within
his own little country all this was sure to be more than
annoying. For Mir Wall, a man who thought little of
taking life, it was enough to decide him to murder his
guest and take possession of the baggage.

Hayward had started from Yasin, and had made three
short marches on the road to Badakhshan, had reached a

198 QILGIT EISTOR T.

place called Darkfit, when he was overtaken by fifty or
sixty men sent by Mir Walt. These, however, gave no
signs of enmity ; the leader said he had been sent to see
the camp safe across the Pass. But the next morning
they took Hayward in his sleep, bound his hands, led him
a mile into the pine forest, and killed him by a blow from
a sword. His five servants, Kashmtits and Pathans, met
with the same fate.

Three months afterwards I recovered Hayward's body,
sending a messenger with presents and promises from
Gilgit, where I lay. We buried him in a garden not far
from Gilgit Fort.

Efforts were made by the British Government and
by the Maharaja of Kashmir, by application to Iman-
ul-Mulk and otherwise, to get hold of Mir Wali and the
actual murderers, but success attended none of them ;
Mir Wali, I believe, has died a natural death.

I cannot end this subject without saying something
more of George Hayward. Led to geographical explora-
tion by the journeys he had made among the Himalayas
in search of sport while in the army, a keen sportsman, a
hardy, energetic, and courageous traveller, he had many
of the qualities that make a good explorer. But he was
more fitted to do the part of explorer in a continent
like Australia than in Asia, where nearly every habitable
nook is filled up, and where knowledge of human nature
and skill in dealing with various races of men are at
least as much wanted as ability to overcome physical
obstacles. He was a man whom many friends admired
for his pluck and his warm enthusiasm in his pursuits.

JIATWAliD'S GRAVE.

199

and liked fur the agreeableoess that thej always met with
in bhn. His fate, the fate of being at an early age bar-
barously, almost wantonly, murdered by the order of one
whom lie had made a friend of and tried to benefit, filled
all with indignatioa as well as regret.

200 BALT18TAN.

CHAPTER Xni.
baltistIn.

From the extreme north-west corner of the territories
described in the last few chapters, we will now travel
north-eastwards, along the valley of the Indus River, up-
wards against the course of its stream. We shall thus be
led past the most important of the inhabited places, which
are strictly confined to the valleys and are thickest along
the larger rivers. But detours to the right and left will
be necessary for visiting the side valleys,' the waste
plateaus, and the mountain ridges, all of which will show
us something of interest. In this manner we shall com-
plete a survey of that large part of the territories which
lies at the back of Kashmir.

The first country we come to is Baltistan. This was an
ancient kingdom that occupied the Indus Valley from
about where on the map the blue tint that denotes the
Dard race ends and the dark red of the Baltts begins,
reaching to a point a little south of Khartaksho. It
included also the districts marked EhapalA and Chorbat,
on the Shayok. Skardd was its capital.

For several days' march, the road from Gilgit is more
than usually difficult ; only on the right bank of the Indus
can a pony be brought ; on the other, the rocky, slippery,
paths are hardly practicable for man. For here the

EONDU. 201

ends of mighty spurs on both sides confine the stream
to a narrow gorge, and along the face of their steep slopes
it is hard to travel. As we near Bondu the valley becomes
more open in places, and at the openings some village or
hamlet will be found.

Eondii itself, which has an elevation of 6700 feet, is a
strangely situated place ; it occupies little shelves, as it
were, on the rock. A ravine that comes down from the
southern mountains is heria narrowed up to a deep gully of
thirty feet in width, with vertical rocky sides ; along these
cliffs the water, taken from higher up the stream, is led in
wooden troughs, supported in one way or another as the
people have been able to manage; on coming clear of
the gully it is distributed in little channels throughout
the village, of which the whole area is but smalL But
over that small area crops bear abundantly and fruits
grow in luxuriance. Apricots and mulberries are the most
common, and, indeed, they flourish wherever in Baltistan
water can be brought to freshen their roots ; but here is
added pomegranate, which is rare in these hills ; weeping
willow, too, lends its graceful form to the varied collection
of trees that almost hide the fields from view. On a
separate, narrow, nearly isolated plateau, is the Baja's
house, which is called the Fort, a curious building, made
of courses of stone and wood. The river flows past, some
hundreds of feet below the level of the village, between
perpendicular rocks of massive gneiss ; in a narrow part it
is spanned by a rope-bridge, made of birch twigs, which is
370 feet long in the curve, with a fall in it of some eighty
feet, the lowest part being about fifty feet above the stream.
The approach to the bridge is over slippery rocks ; the

202 BALTISTAN.

path to it is so narrow and difiScnlt that one's steps have
to be aided in many places by ladders.

We have here a phenomenon which is repeated in other
parts of the Indus Valley ; at Dah, for instance, 120 miles
lip, there is the same. For a long distance the river
flows in a narrow gorge ; the vertical rocks that form it
are over 600 feet high. This lowest part of the cross-*
section of the valley, perhaps even for a height of
1000 feet, seems to be distinct, as to slope, from that
above, as if the latest down-cutting had been done with a
different tool. This was noticeable in many places be-
tween Bondil and Katsilra.

Hondil was once a small rajaship, dependent npon
SkardA. The power of both has now been absorbed by
that of Jummoo. The present Rajas are but pensioners,
though still of chief social rank in their own neighbour-
hoods. It was a small kingdom that the Bondd Raja
ruled over — no more than a few villages; ai;id isolated
and diflBcult of access was his home. We have seen how
hard was the approach from below. To reach it from the
side of the mountains is no easier task. From Astor, a
high, snowy, range has to be crossed by a glacier pass,
while on the north quite inaccessible ridges enclose it.

But we may, though with diflSculty, follow up the
Indus Valley to the centre of Baltistan. Zigzag paths,
rough ascents and descents, in which one is exposed to
the rock-reflected heat of the blazing sun, employ the
traveller for some miles. Then he must rise over a spur,
that prevents any passage near the river, by an ascent of
4000 feet. The spot can be fixed on the map as exactly
opposite where the Turmik Valley joins that of the Indus.

JBASHO. 203

Here KondA ends and the district of SkardA begins. It
is a good natural boundary, one that might be made
much use of to repel invasion from the south-east. When
the Dogras, having taken Skardii, were overrunning Bal-
tistan, they found a defence work here thrown up by the
Eondu people ; but they were able to turn it by taking a
higher path, which, for a good reward, a man from one
of the neighbouring villages pointed out. The parallel
of Thermopylae cannot be carried any farther.

From such a position as this Pass we were sure to obtain
a more complete view of the mountains than from below,
especially of those on the right bank of the Indus. They
were mountains of the grandest form. Facing the river
were enormous cliffs, or steep slopes of bare rock, fining at
their summits to peaks ; sharp ridges separated the various
ravines, and from them issued spurs ending in vertical
precipices ; all this on an extremely large scale. The
steepness of these mountains is such that there are several
quite inaccessible tracts, valleys into which no one can
penetrate.

The village next reached is Basho, which occupies a
small space enclosed between rocky spurs. The part that
is cultivated is crowded with fruit-trees ; these are mostly
of the same sorts as those before met with, but here apri-
cots do not grow to perfection. The speciality of the place
is grapes ; particularly is it noted for the small black
currant-grape, which is grown in a few little vineyards,*

On the mountains beliind Basho is a forest of pine, the
Pinus exceha ; this begins about 9000 feet from the sea-
level, and extends well above. I hear that there are many

* The height above the sea is 6900 feet.

204 BALTI8TAN.

places in the basin of the next stream also, that by Kat-
sura, where this tree is found. The occurrence of it
marks a continuance of the semi-Tibetan climate ; but tho
moisture that induces its growth seems to affect only ele-
vations such as these, and not the base of the valleys.*

From Basho to Katsilra the road leads us, some hun-
dreds of feet above the river, sometimes across talusee,
sometimes on the face of the cliff, often being carried
over frail wooden stages that have with diflSculty been
fixed. The way is rough and laborious.

Katsiira, situated at the mouth of a ravine whose
foaming stream drains a great space of mountain country
on the south, is a large village of like character with the
last. Here of water for irrigation there is plenty, but
ground fit to cultivate is scarce, for huge loose blocks of
stone much fill up the space ; but wherever watercourses
run, there fruit-trees flourish and shade the fields.
Apricot and walnut are in plenty, and the mulberry here
bears a very fine fruit, resembling, but excelling, that
which we have in England, The rough stony ground
about is made in great part of old glacier debris; on
the left baiik of the stream is an enormous accumulation
of large blocks, covering all the surface, except where a
lake occupies a hollow in it, which extends three-quarters
of a mile in length, with a width of 300 or 400 yards. This
is simply a moraine lake, that is to say, the basin of it
was made by the irregular shedding of the terminal
moraine of the glacier that at one time ended at this
spot. The glacier must have been of considerable size ;
it occupied all that valley which reaches up to the north-

* At the head of the Stok Valley (north of the Indos) spruce^fir is found.

SKARDt 205

west comer of the Deosai plateau, and it came down to the
Indus Valley, at one time crossing it and abutting against
the opposite mountains. An idea of the transporting
power of such a glacier is given by the great blocks
that one sees brought hither from the mountains within ;
rocks of 20 or 30 feet in diameter are in thousands,
while those 50 or 100 feet across are many ; and of one
block, the part exposed to view measured 140 feet by
90 feet by 40 feet high.

Immediately above Katsflra the valley widens, and we
find ourselves in the centre of Baltistan, where lies
Skardii, the capital. Here the mountains, opening, have
in their midst a curving, crescent-shaped plain, in length
twenty miles, in width varying from one mile to five. In
the widest part are two isolated hills, about 1000 feet
in height; between these flows the Indus. Immediately
below, it receives the waters of the Shigar River, and with
their addition becomes a river of great speed and volume ;
in summer time it flows, even through this level part, with
a velocity of six miles an hour.

By far the most of the Skardii plain is uncultivated ; it
is a waste of sand and stones. There is first the space in
flood time covered by the waters ; then, over some square
miles, is blown sand, hopeless for cultivation ; last are the
stony tracts belonging to the alluvial fans of streams
that flow down from the southern range of mountains.
Cultivation, however, is limited more by the supply
of water than by the barrenness of the soil; for where
irrigation can be applied, very hopeless-looking ground
will yield crops. The water of the large rivers is seldom
available, but the side streams, coming from a high level.

206 BALTISTAN.

can be led over the allavial plateaus ; these, then, make
real oases, though of small area, surrounded by the yeUow
sands; plentiful crops come up, and innumerable fruit-
trees flourish in them.

Bounding the valley on the south and south-west^
curving round with its form, is a grand line, or broken
wall, of mountains, rising into high-peaked rock masses.
This crescent of hills extends from one narrow gorge,
whence issues the river into the plain, to the other, lower,
gorge, where the valley is again closed to the view. The
mountains are of bare rock ; here and there only, on the
upper slopes, is a little grass, a patch of thin pasture. In
all parts they are steep; in great part they are pre-
cipitous. These rise to 10,000 feet above the plain.
High up on the southern hills, in hollows surrounded
by great cliffs, lie small glaciers ; these for the most part
are not connected with perpetual snow-beds, though, from
one of those in sight, a long mass of perpetual snow leads
up to the summit.

Near the base of the hills, from 1700 feet above the
plain downwards, lie the villages. In the distance they
are but little green lines and patches, either embosomed
in the lowest hollows or crowning some platform that
projects from the spurs. The space cultivated looks
strangely small compared with the size of the great
mountains ; looked down on from a height, the fields
seem to be minute garden beds, and the groups of fruit-
trees are like nursery plantations.

The extreme bareness of the mountains — even at eleva-
tions where, fifty miles to the south-west, forests would grow
thick and wide— shows that here we are in a completely

ITS TIBETAN CLIMATE. 207

Tibetan climate. It is a rainless and almost cloudless
country ; only at the times when snow may fall is the sun
obscured ; the rocks do not become decomposed into soil ;
the pieces shivered from the higher parts remain for long
unchanged. The result is that grass can neither find
root-hold nor moisture to flourish on ; still less can any
forest tree grow. It requires a considerable effort for the
mind of anyone who has never seen the like to picture to
itself such a state as I describe. I must be uuderstood
literally when I say that, in such places as this valley of
Skardu, the eye will see no green — nought but the brown,
grey, and yellow of the hill-sides and the river-banks —
save where water flowing from melting snows is artificially
led over the ground. And this, with a few modifications
which will be mentioned as we go, is true of all the
country (east and south-east of Skardft) which lies on that
side of Kashmir, i.e. on that side of the Snowy Bange.

Skardu, which one knows not whether to call a town or
a village, but which is in fact a scattered collection of
houses and hamlets, lies at the foot of one of the two
isolated rocks, on a part of the plain which is, rather, a
plateau, of alluvial deposit, as much as 150 feet above
the river, and 7440 feet above the sea.

Formerly the palace of the Bajas of Skardd stood at
the edge of the plateau, where the rock rises fix)m it;
now the ruins remain — little more than the foundations
and some vaulted chambers. The palace was dismantled
on the taking of Skardii by Maharaja Gulab Singh's troops.
The rock itself was the stronghold ; there was a fort built
at the south-east end of it, at a part very steep and diffi-
cult of access ; to this the £aja (Ahmad Shah) retired on

2Ua BALTJSTAS.

the approach of the enemy. Though the fort was a weak
thing, yet its position waa each that it could hare been
held for long if the whole rock had been properly guarded
as well. On the higher part of the rock was a smaller
fort, in a position very difficult to reach from below. Bat
the Dogra invaders were good moontatneers. One dark
night they stole round from their position in front of the
chief fort to the north-weetem comer of the rock, and,
aurprising the guards there posted, climbed the hill, and
after a little fighting took the small fort neac the summit.
In the momiBg they began firing down, at an immense
advantage, on the larger fort ; and after two or three
hours the Eaja and his people took to flight, and the
place was captm-ed. AH the garrison (except a few who
escaped across the river) were either killed or taken ; the
Baja himself became a prisoner.

uoobI roBT, ekJUdO.

THE TAKING OF SKARDU, 209

This deed was boldly done of the Dogras ; it resembled
somewhat, on a small scale, the capture of Quebec by the
English. The strength of the position was such that it
should never have been taken except by blockade and
starvation. Soon after this victory, about the year 1840,
the whole of Baltistan became subject to Gulab Singh.
According to their custom, the Dogras built a new fort,
less dependent for its security on advantages of position.
A sketch of this is given opposite, which shows that though
it may be somewhat diflBcult to scale, yet it is not well
protected against long shots.

The houses here in Skardii, and in Baltistan generally, are
low flat-roofed houses, of stone and mud, with, commonly,
a second story built over a portion of the first roof. This
upper story (which is for summer living only) is not un-
usually of wattle ; towards EondA, where timber is more
plentiful, it is built of thick boards. In summer time
one sees the roofs all strewn with apricots, which are
spread out to dry in the sun. The abundance of fruit in
this country makes up in a great measure — with respect
to the economy of the peasants — for the scarceness of the
pasture, and the consequent small amount of live stock
that can be reared; by the sale of dried fruit, in place
of the produce of flocks and herds, luxuries from outside
are purchased, or the cash necessary for payment of taxes
is acquired.*

Let us turn now to other parts of Baltistan. We must

* Of cattle, the Baltis keep the common cow and the 2^, which ia the
lialf-breed between cow and yak, the speoiea which, as we sbaU see, n»
comm<m in the higher parts of Ladakh. Some of the viUages have a bull
yuk for breeding, which they keep on the cool upland pasture-giounda
uutil the cold of winter makes the vaUeys endurable for him.

210 BALTI8TAN.

understand that this country is composed of enormous
moimtain chains, or masses of mountains. The map, if
carefully looked at, will yield some information aboat
them. Here the bright colours denote the inhabited
valleys, and the grey the elevated masses inhospitable
to man. Along the rivers the larger figures (as 8)
show the valley heights, while the smaller (thus, 15.7)
denote the height of passes or of peaks, each in thousands
of feet. The height of these, it will be seen, is not
uncommonly 18,000 or 20,000 feet; while, in the north-
easterly parts, peaks rise of 25,000 and 26,000, and one
above 28,000 feet has been measured, these giving rise
to the largest known glaciers out of the Arctic regions.
Of the valleys, we shall now choose that of Shigar to visit,
which, coming from the north, unites with the plain of
Skardu.

The valley of Shigar, from the village of that name
upwards for twenty-four miles, is some three miles in
width. Along both sides rise steep rocky mountains ; the
immediate peaks are 7000 feet or so above the valley ;
more lofty ones stand behind. The valley itself, at a
general level of 8000 feet, is occupied partly by the seuidy
and stony bed in which the river channels are made, and
partly by side alluvial deposits sloping down to that fiat.
On both sides cultivation occurs opposite each ravine-
mouth, for there the waters of the side stream can be
brought to irrigate the ground.

The village of Shigar is a long tract of cultivated land
on the left bank of the river, where the ground slopes up
gently to the base of the mountains. Here grow rich
crops of wheat, barley, millet, and other grains ; while all

THE SHIQAR VALLEY, 211

arouud each corn-field, their roots watered by the same
channels that are provided for the irrigation, is a most
luxuriant growth of apricot-trees, which bear fruit of
greater perfection than is met with in any other part
of Baltistan, or of the neighbouring countries. This, to
my mind, is the most delightful place in all Baltistan ;
after the sandy tracts of Skardfl one can thoroughly
enjoy sitting in the shade of the fruit-trees, whose bright
foliage is varied by that of some large Planes, through
which the eye can quietly view the grand mountains that
on both sides bound the valley.

At varying intervals, for twenty or twenty-five miles
up, there are villages like this, but none of so great extent.
Towards the upper part of this length, on the right bank,
which is the least sunny, apricot and mulberry trees be-
come fewer, and in their stead walnut-trees flourish. In
the central flat are sandy tracts covered with the prickly
shrub, Hippopliae ; through these the river flows with a
large volume of water and great velocity. It can be
crossed opposite to Shigar on rafts made of numbei'S of
inflated goatskins fastened together by sticks. The force
of the current, which here raises waves some feet in
height, makes it a passage of some diflSculty. In summer
time it is impossible to get horses over, so that for some
months there is no way of communication for them be-
tween the right and left banks. I had to leave my
{)onie8 behind at Shigar, and did not rejoin them for
several weeks.

The Shigar River may be said to be formed by the
union of the Basha and Braldti streams, which meet at
the top of this wide Shigar Valley. From there upwardfi^

212 BALTI8TAN,

the two branch valleys are narrow. I followed up both
these branches in succession, beginning with the western,
called Basha.

The bottom of this valley is confined, here and there we
find a village, with walnut-trees scattered about it, while
rocky precipices rise close behind. Three thousand feet
or so above the level of the villages are commonly pasture-
grounds, whither the flocks and herds are driven for the
summer months ; on these there is often a collection of
small stone huts for the shephei*ds to live in. It is only
at such heights that any pasture can be got, and this still
is scanty ; it must be nourished by the moisture from the
melting snow.

Following up the Basha Valley, we find the villages to
become rarer ; a tract of many miles is passed without one
being met with. At last we reached ArandA, the highest,
which is close to the end of a huge glacier that fills np
the valley with its great mass of ice, black with stone-
heaps and dirt. The elevation of the village and of the
foot of the glacier is between 10,000 and 11,000 feet.
This is one of those largest glaciers, that come down from
some of the highest mountains, and occupy a great length
of the valleys. In making three and a half marches on
it, or alongside of it, I obtained a fair knowledge of its
form and character, of which some account will now be
given, beginning from the foot and going upwards.

The valley thus filled with ice is a mile and a hcdf
wide ; the height of the ice at the irregular ending off
seemed about 200 feet ; but farther up, the thickness pro-
bably was greater. Crossing not far above the end, we find
a very irregular mass of ice, with ridges and hollows of no

--. n3=*c:

A A

THE ARANDU GLACIER. 213

even run, so covered with stones that in going over the
whole mile and a half, which is the width of the glacier,
hardly once do one's feet touch the ice ; on the higher
parts are thick mounds of stones ; on the slopes there are
less ; in the hollows again are accumulations of them ; all
this is because the ice has been so much melted, as it nears
its end, that the stones of the various moraines have
slipped and become mixed together. Thus it is for some
miles up ; but when we go farther up still, then the
moraine matter appears in lines, and strips of clean ice
come into view between them. If, having passed along,
say, fifteen or twenty miles of the glacier, one rises on
the hill-side to gain a view over it, one sees the great ice-
stream lying with its enormous length in the valley, with
a very low slope of surface ; at this part the incline is not
more than 1^° or 2°, though, below, the slope had been
rather more ; in the centre is a wide strip of snow-white
ice moulded by melting into such forms as to give the
appearance of waves of a rapid stream ; on either side are
lines of moraines ; steep rocky banks make the boundary
of all ; above these are mountains with an immense spread
of perpetual snow, from which spring glaciers, some ending
off abruptly high above the main valley, others continuing
on and coming down, with a steep slope, to join and coalesce^
with the large one. The highest spot I reached was in the
centre of the glacier twenty or twenty-five miles from its
foot ; up to this place the width had been very regular, I
should say from a mile and a quarter to a mile and a
half, but here a greater expanse of ice was visible ; the
ice was white-surfaced, looking like a frozen and snow-
covered lake, and here it was far clearer of debris than it

214

BALTISTAN.

had been below, still moraine-lineB Isy along the cenlre.
This wider part (which is abont 13,500 feet above the aea)
is where several glaciers meeting combine to form the great
stream which thence, as before said, flows on with a gentle
incline. From the foot of the glacier at Araudd to the
summit of the feeding glaciers the distance most be orer
thirty miles.*

The Yalley of Br9,ld<l contains the easterly tributary of
the Shigar Itiver, At the head of it are the highest
mountains and the largest glaciers of any. The largest
of all (which I myself did not visit) is the £altoro glacier,
thirty-five miles long, which comes down between two
extremely lofty ridges ; it is described by Major Godwin-
Aasten in the paper before mentioned. The southem
ridge has peaks over 25,000 feet, while the northern (which
is part of the watershed) rises in one spot to the height of

28,265 feet, the peak of that height (marked K 2) being
the second highest monntain known in the world. Mount

* Majoi Qoflwin-AuBteD hasgiTenau ftooonnt of this and other gUoipTS
of the Baahs and Braldfl vallejs in > paper te«d before the Boyal Geo-
gtftphickl Society on the 11th J&DI1U7, ISM.

ITS niGIIEST MOUNTAIN. 215

Everest only exceeding it. It is not easy to get a sight
of this mountain ; I once saw it from a distance of nearly
seventy miles, standing up, in the form given in the sketch,
clear above all the great ridges.

A way from Skardil to Yarkand used in former times
to lead travellers for some distance up the Baltoro
glacier, and then across the range, here called Must^gh,
by one of the northern tributary glaciers. From 'certain
ice-changes that road becoming too difHcult,a new one was
struck out up a more northerly glacier that leads to where
Mustugh Pass is marked on the map. This one I followed
for some distance up the glacier, but not as far as the
summit of the Pass, to which as yet no European has
reached.

In following this road there was formerly — and may be
even now — danger from the Hunza robbers, who, issuing
from their own country and crossing the watershed by an
easier Pass, used to attack the caravans where the two
roads met on the farther side of the range. When I was
in Braldu, in 1863, I met with one of a very few men who
had escaped from an attack that had been made a week
or two before on a small caravan of Baltis who were
returning from their country after a sojourn in Yarkand ;
nearly all had been captured to be sold as slaves, and of
the goods, horses, and cattle nothing was recovered. And
the phy.sical difficulties of the road are not small. The
Pass is open for but a short time in summer ; as soon as
snow falls on it the crevasses are hidden and the journey
becomes dangerous. In crossing, men are tied together,
yak-calves are carried ; ponies of Y&rkand — a useful breed
— also used to be ventured, they were sometimes led over

216 BALTI8TAN.

the crevasses with ropes, held by eight men in front and
eight behind. Even when safe over the Pass (on the
hitherward journey) the horses and cattle could not at
once be brought down to the inhabited parts ; they had to
be kept in one of the intermediate pastures, until, as winter
neared, the streams got low and the passage along the
valley became practicable for the four-footed ones. These
combined difiSculties have caused this road to be at
present disused. From the time I was speaking of, 1863,
up to 1870, when I again visited Baltistan, there had
been no communication between that country and
Yarkand.

South of Skardii is the tract named Deosai^ which,
whether it can strictly be called part of Baltistan or not,
may be as conveniently described here as anywhere.

Deosai is a plateau, a mass of high land, surrounded by
yet higher mountains. There is a ring of mountains, irre-
gular, but still of a general circular form, the diameter of
which, from crest to crest of the ridge, is about twenty-five
miles. These mountains make a rugged serrated bavrier of
a height of from 16,000 to 17,000 feet. Within this ring
is flat^ though not completely flat, country, made up of
plateaus more or less separated by level valleys a few
hundred feet below them. ITiis flat part varies in height
from 12,000 to 13,000 feet. As to the ring of moun-
tains, though they are serrated, there are few low de-
pressions in them ; one towards SkardA, over which (by
the Burjt Pass) comes the road from Kashmir, is 15,700
feet high ; and on the western side are one or two dips at
an elevation of 14,000 feet. The most frequented route
between Kashmir and Skardd is over this plateau. In

THE DEOSAI FLATEA U. 217

coming from the side of 'Kashmir^ one's best halting-place
within the Jhelam basin is at a spot called BorziJ^ which,
the reader will remember, is a stage on the road from
Kashmir to Gilgit Thence two Passes have to be tra*
versed, 13,000 to 14,000 feet, high, before one can enter
the wide platean. Then for five-and-twenty miles the
road leads through it; the higher plains are dry and
stony, the valleys have some little pasture. There are no
human inhabitants. The living thmgs one sees most of
are the marmots. These animals, which are as much as
2^ feet in length, live here in great numbers ; they are
always watching one, sitting by their holes upright on
their haunches, with their knowing heads poked a little
forward, and their paws held up in front of their breasts*
They cry with a voice between a squeak and a whistle ;
when alarmed they dive into their holes with wonderM
rapidity.

The passage of this table-land is easy enough in
summer. The elevation of the road averaging perhaps
13,000 feet, the rarity of the air is felt, but not badly ;
some grass, fuel, and water can be found at eveiy place
required for a halting-ground. But with the first coming
on of winter the Pass is closed by the snow, and it may
be dangerous to be caught on the waste. (JenenJly the
end of September is the time ; but in 1870, on the 8tli
September, such a fall of snow came as to cover the whole
plain to a depth of half a foot or more ; this snow lasted
for a few days only, till the sun came out strong again ;
in this storm three Baltts lost their live8,-^they died of
cold during the night ; a Hindost&nl servant oi mine, who
was coming with a pony and a mule, managed to find

218 BALTISTAN.

shelter under a rock, and weathered it. All the spots
frequented by travellers on Deosai have two names, one
which the Baltis call them by, and one originating with
the Dards of Astor or Gurez. Especially is this seen in
the names of streams ; one name always ends in chu and
the other in wot, which words are respectively the Baltt
and the Dard for water.

The Skardu road leaves this tract by a Pass of 15,700
feet over the northern part of the bounding ridge. In
approaching this we see how the mountains are cut ont
into flat-bottomed amphitheatres, cmd we see clearly that
these were the beds of ancient glaciers. Across the front
of each of them is a stone-heap nearly level on the upper,
inner, side, and sloping down on the outer ; these were
terminal moraines, on which the glacier had flowed, while
it shot down its detritus to make the slope advance yet
farther. The road passes by one of the most perfect of these
amphitheatres ; it was about a mile and a half loug, and
half that in width ; on one side the rocks rose clear and
precipitous for some 1500 feet, making a sharp-edged
ridge ; these curving round were on the other side more
covered with stony taluses ; the nearly level bottom was
in great part occupied by moundy masses of stone ; among
these lay one small tarn, while a larger one reached to the
foot of the great cliflf, reflecting its crags. The narrow
ridge divides this amphitheatre from a valley that leads
direct to Skardd, with the great fall of 8000 feet in seven
miles, measured straight, or about eleven miles by the
road.

At the simimit there opened a view which produced an
impression of grandeur as deep as I had ever experienced.

VIEW FROM A FAS8. 219

We looked from our great height right on to the moun-
tains beyond the Indus and Shigar rivers. These, though
distant forty and fifty miles, presented a magnificent spec-
tacle. It was a combination of various lines of mountains,
with lofty peaks rising from these ridges in great pre-
cipitous masses, or in pyramids ending in acute points,
the snow thick upon them; these vary from 21,000 to
25,700 feet. Below this great region of snow mountains
comes an enormous depth of rocky ones ; in the upper
hollows of these lie some glaciers that reach far below the
level of the snow. We saw this in the morning sun,
which lighted up the higher snows and threw dark sfaar
dows of the peaks over the lower snow-beds, but it made a
soft haze in front of the nearer rocky mountains^ which
perhaps aided in giving us so greats so true, an idea of the
size and grandeur of the range.

220 THE BALTI PEOPLE.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE BALTI people.

It was explained in a former chapter (see p. 19) that
the Baltts (who are the inhabitants of Baltistan) are of
the Tibetan race, and of the Muhammadan fieiith. They
doubtless came originally from the south-east and east,
where now live the great mass of the Tibetans, and in
their migrations the most westerly point they reached
was Eondii. The wave of Muhammadanism coming from
the west here met them ; that faith had effect enough
upon them to cause the conversion from Buddhism of all
the inhabitants of the tract we defined as Baltistan, and
of the villages a score or two of miles farther to the
south-east.

Until lately Muhammadanism was advancing gradually
among the Bhots, as these Buddhists are called. The line
dividing the Muhammadans and the Buddhists was still
travelling south-eastward. Moorcraft remarked, in 1821,
that, about Eargil, Muhammadanism was advancing, and
that there was every reason to suppose that before long
Ladakh would be entirely Muhammadan. Dr. Thompson,
who travelled over the countries in 1847-8, observed that
in the Shayok Valley an uninhabited tract had acted as
a barrier between Musalman and Buddhist ; but that on
the Indus and south of it Islam was gradually, though

THE TIBETAN STOCK. 221

very slowly, extending eastward. Now, however, the
advance is stayed. The conntenanee and encouragement
which the Maharaja has shown and given to the Buddhist
religion, as a branch of his own, has been enough to coun-
teract the tendency to Muhammadan conversion.

The Baltis, therefore, are of quite the same stock as the
Ladakhis, who have remained Buddhist^ differing from
most of these latter in physical characters little more
than some Ladakhis differ from others. The Baltts have
parts of the Turanian physiognomy marked. The high
cheek-bones are generally noticeable, and the eyes drawn
out at the comers. Their eyebrows are often brought
near each other with a wrinkling of the brow; but the
nose not so often has the depressed form as it has with
the Bhots, nor are the Baltts quite so scantily bearded as
these are. The Baltis have disused the pigtail, and they
partly follow the Muhammadan custom of shaving the
head, only they leave long side-locks growing from behind
the temples, which are sometimes lank, sometimes thick
and curly, and sometimes plaited*

In stature the Baltis are less thicknset than most
Ladakhis, and taller. This difference may be the effect
of local circumstances, for in most parts of Baltist&n there
is a less severe climate than in most parts of Lad&kh^ and
the life led is somewhat easier ; and it is to be noted that
in Nubra, where the people (classed with the Ladftkhls)
resemble the Baltis in figure, the physical ciroumstanoes
approach those of Baltistan. The Baltis^ though wiry,
are not equal to their neighbours of Ladikh in canying
loads; especially they move slower with their weights^
but they are particularly good in carrying a load over

222 TEE BALTI PEOPLE,

difficult ground, where one would think a laden man
could not pass. They always carry about a hair-rope or
else a leathern thong, fixed to a wooden ring, for slinging
their loads, and, when at home, very commonly carry a
conical basket at their backs for the same purpose.

The dress of the Baltis is of a loosely-woven cloth.
They wear a coat reaching but a little below the knee, and
short pyjamas.. They carry one or two wrappers for their
waist aiid shoulders, these sometimes of a check pattern.
For the head they have a small round cap, which they
wear at the back of the head, and the headmen of villages
bind a woollen cloth pagri or turban over it ; men of
higher rank will have one of white calico or muslin. The
people go barefoot a good deal; but they carry with
them, for wear in the colder parts, boots of soft leather,
often of goatskin, with the hair left on and worn
inside.

In disposition the Baltis are good-natured and patient.
They are not so cheerful as their cousins the Bhots, but
they are not without some humour. Less slow in com-
prehension than the Bhots are, they are somewhat more
up to the ways of the world — less generous, more eager
in getting.

In embracing Muhammadanism, the Baltis, to some
extent, adopted the custom of polygamy. Though the
area of cultivation is closely limited, and there are no
means of support within the country for an expanding
population, still with the new religion the customs preva-
lent among Muhammadans in other parts of the world
were introduced. I do not think that with the poor
people, the mass of the population, polygamy is common;

BALTi EMIGRANTS. 228

but there is no customary restriction about marriage, and
they are in fact betrothed as boys and girls.*

The result is that Baltistan is crowded ; the population
is overflowing. Happily they are a people more likely
to fare well as emigrants than the Lad&kh!s» for the
heat of some of the valleys they dwell in has fitted
them to endure the warmer climates that the search for
food was likely to lead them to. Accordingly, colonies of
Baltts have been made in several countries, where food is
more abundant^ and frugality and industry (which are
characteristics of the Baltl emigrant) can get their reward.
Thus in the Yarkand country is a large settlement of
these people; their occupation, I have been told, is in
great part the raising of tobacco. Some are settled in
Kashmir, and to Jummoo even they find their way. Some
hundreds, again, get a livelihood as soldiers in the Maha-
raja's army, in which has been formed a regiment of
Baltis, a regiment for which has been adopted the High-
land kilt and a head-dress that must have been taken
from some picture of our grenadiers of a century and
a half back.

But at present the great outlet for the Baltts is the
British territory, where, at many places in the hillsi
works are going on — such as road making and barrack
building — at which they can earn good wages ; or better,
by taking small contracts, gain a profit as welL It is
common for the Baltts, in parties of half a doz^i or so, to
find their way through Lad&kh to Simla, taking with
them a load of dried apricots, by the sale of which they

* With polygamy haa been intiodiioed tbe oilier Mnhemimirkn eattom
of restraint of women from mixing freely in wtxoKkj.

224 THE BALTi PEOPLE.

provide food on the road, and perhaps a little parse at
their journey's end. Joining a gang of their countrymen
already at work (for by this time there is established
a regular, though slow, correspondence through tho8»
going and returning), they will work on steadily, until,
after three or four years may be, they have saved what
will carry them back to their country and keep them for
a while, and enable them to do something for those they
had left behind. Then, investing these savings in the
goods most in demand in Baltistan, generally copper
cooking-pots, they will load themselves to the utmost
they can carry, and start on their two months' journey
home. There the travelled Baltt takes his ease for a bit,
being able to obtain the best produce of his village, till
diminishing resources warn him again to look abroad.

In spite of all this emigration, however, there remain
in the coimtry more people than its produce can well
provide for. The land, or the interest in the land, be-
comes minutely divided ; the workers on it cannot get a
full meal; the result is a poor, ill-clad, and unhealthy
population. Certainly the Baltis are much less robust and
healthy than the Ladakhis.

It is a curious thing that the Baltis belong mostly to
the Shia sect of Muhammadans. As to their first conver-
sion to Islam I could hear nothing; but some teachers are
remembered — four brothers, it is said, from EhurSs&n-^
who made " good Muhammadans " of the people, who
before were but nominally Muhammadan. It may be
that these four missionaries were Shlas. There is among
them yet another sect division. A number of the Baltis
call themselves '^ Nur Bakhsh," which name (evidently

MUHAMMADAN SECTS. 225

taken from the name of some spiritual leader) implies a
slight distinction from the ordiuary Shia, but in the great
matters of difference between the Sunis and Shias, the
Ndr Bakhsh are with the latter.

In the country about Kargil, and from there on to
Suru, this same race of Baltis is to be found. Here they
are in contact with the Dards on the one hand, and the
Buddhist Tibetans, the Ladakhis, on the other; the
various spots of colour on the map show that those races
are geographically somewhat mixed ; but even if the same
village is divided between them, the tribes keep them-
selves socially distinct. One square of the Baltt colour
is to be seen close to Leh ; it represents an isolated colony
of them, which, four or five generations back, came some
from the Kargil neighbourhood, and some from SkSjdft.
They occupy the largest tract of cultivated ground in
Ladclkh, the village of Chushot, by the river bank, only
a few miles from Leh.

It would be interesting to trace whether any of those
Baltis who go for work to Simla and elsewhere in the
British country will there make a permanent settlement
or not Hitherto, I believe, they have always looked to
returning to their much-loved home.

A

226 POLO IN BALTISTAN.

CHAPTER XV.

POLO IN BALTISTAN.

BaltistAn is one of the homes of Polo.* This is so
tlioroughly the national game of the Baltis that almost
every village has its polo ground, enclosed and carefally
kept for the purpose. The people are passionately fond
of the game ; those of rank look on the playing of it as
one of the chief objects for which they were sent into the
world ; but not to them is the pursuit confined ; all join
who can get a pony to mount, and the poorest enter
thoroughly into the spirit of it ; the children from an early
age get their eye and hand in accord by practising it on
foot — playing indeed the ordinary hockey of our country.
It is not surprising that such an active pursuit of the
game should produce good players. I have met with
young men of most admirable skill. These have been
mostly of the AVazir class, men who, while always able
from their circumstances to join in the pursuit, have
greater activity and energy than the Eajas whom they
serve. The Eajas, hideed, have been all brought up to
play, and they also usually have good skill, but they sel-
dom ride with the same pluck, or throw themselves so
completely into the game as do the Wazirs.

In Dardistun also polo is played. Indeed it is practised
from Leh on the south-east to high up the Gilgit Valley

* It can now bnrdly bo necessary to define this game as hockey on
liorseback.

ANTIQUITY OF THE GAME, 227

ou the north-west, and even in the Chitral Valley beyond ;
I have met and played with some people from this last
country who had come to Gilgit on political business. At
Leh it was introduced by the colony of Baltis who settled
at Chushot, close by ; it has been adopted by the higher
class of Ladakhis, but not by the people generally; on the
other hand, in every place where live Baltis or D&rds, the
polo ground may be looked for.

For an interesting fact relating to the antiquity of the
game we are indebted to an anonymous correspondent of
* The Times/ who, on Tith June, 1874, gave an extract
from the * History of the Eeign of the Emperor Manuel
Comnenus' (by Joannes Ciunamus), which shows that the
very same game was played at Constantinople in the
middle of the twelfth century, and that even at that time
it was considered an old as well as an honourable game,
and was practised by the Emperors themselves.* In the

♦ I here give a translation from the Latin of that part of the extract
which dcHcribea the game. It wiU be seen that it differs not from the
polo of to-day except in the form of the stick. " The nature of the game
is as follows : — Yuuug men, divided into sides of nearly equal numbers,
discharge a ball made of leather, about the size of an apple, into a certain
place previously measured out for tliut purpose. Then on each side they
make at full gallop for the ball, which has been placed in the middle, as if
it were a prizo, each having in his right hand a stick, which is of moderate
length and teriuinates suddenly in a rounded spcu^, the middle of which
is tilled up wiih catgut strings fastened together in the manner of a net.
Plach side then does its best that it may bo the first to drive the boll
beyond the other (i.e. oj>p(jsite) goal which had been previously marked
out. For wiiea the ball is driven into either of the goals by the use of the
netted stick.<;i, tliat is reckoned as a victory for one side. This, indeed, is
tlie nature of tite game; it obviously lays you open to a fall and other
dangers, for it is ne<x'ssary for anyone who practises it to lean back con-
tinually anil to bend to right and left, so as to wheel his horse round and
direct his course und his movements according to the varying movements
of the ball. In this manner, then, is the game in question carried on.**

228 POLO IN BALTISTAN.

time of the Mughal Empire 'in India it was, I believe,
common among the courtiers. Strange it is that, dying
out in India, till it remained only in two odd comers —
Manipftr and the country we are describing — ^it shoold
now again be learnt and practised by the last new mlers
of India.

Englishmen in Calcutta first got the game from the
people of Manipdr on the borders of Barma. In the Pan-
jab they began playing it about ten years ago, the game
haying been introduced into that province about simulta-
neously from Calcutta and from the Kashmir country.
The English visitors to Kashmir played it, as far as I
know, for the first time in 1863 ; from there it was carried
to Syulkot and other British stations, while about the
same time the Calcutta game also spread into the
Panjab.

I have played polo with natives of Baltist^ln and D&r-
distan, and have closely observed their styles of play ; as
it is a pastime that has now got a good footing in England,
it may not be amiss to say something of the way in which
it is played abroad

In these mountainous countries the tactics of polo are
modified, or at all events determined, by the narrowness
of the ground it is played on. There it is seldom possible
to get more than a long narrow strip of level ground —
never is there a wide expanse. The length from goal to
goal is commonly 200 yards, sometimes it is as much as
250 ; while the width of the ground is from 30 to 40 yards
only; the width of each goal is over 10 and under 15
yards ; the goals are marked by white stones sunk into,
but showing half a loot or a foot above, the ground. The

CHOOSING SIDES. 229

surface is generally a fine turf, which is kept in good
order by occasional irrigation ; the ground is enclosed by
loose stone walls, so that the ball seldom goes beyond
bounds ; the game is better when these walls are smooth,
so that the rebound of the ball can be reckoned on, but
their rough construction seldom allows of this.

There is no maximum or minimum number of players ;
in a large ground fifteen a side is considered a full
number, but very fair play can be got with six or seven
a side. The people consider that it would be impossible
for the game to go on properly without music. The band,
then, consisting usually of two pair of drums, a fife, and a
long horn that one man can hardly wield, first escort the
chief personage — the Raja of the place, or whoever he
may be — in procession to the ground, and then take their
jx)st on a raised platform in the centre of one side. Then
the Raja, sitting down, has the sides made up. This is
done in a fairer way than by alternate choosing, which
gives such an advantage to him who wins the toss. Each
man gives either his whip or his polo stick, and these are
paired, either by the Rajahs advice or by the general voice
of the bystanders, so that two equally good players are
made into one pair ; then is brought forward some little
boy, who knows nothing of the relative skill of the owners
of the whips, nor even whose they are, and he, taking a
pair of whips, shifts them round two or three times in his
hands, and then 6ei)arates them, putting down one on his
right hand and one on his left ; and so with each pair till
two heaps are made, the owners of which represent the two
sides. All this is for the sake of equality and impartiality.

Though the goals are appropriated to the two sides, yet

230 POLO IN BALTISTAN.

the players do not take up their station at their respective
goals, but all congregate at one end. Then one player
begins the game by taking the ball in his han'l^ starting
off at full gallop, and, when he comes to the middle of the
ground, throwing it up and striking it as best he can
towards the enemy's goal. In this some are so skilful
that the ball sometimes enters and the goal is won with-
out anyone else having had a chance. But the leader
is followed not only by his own side, but by all his
opponents, galloping close behind ; and the struggle
comes for the second blow, if the ball has not reached
the goal. Now, when one of the other party gets the
chance, he does not strike it back in the direction he
wishes it ultimately to go, but carries it on towards his
own ba^e, for the sake of putting it not through, but past,
outside, the goal-marka, that is to say, for tlie sake of
making the ball miss the goal and pass behind. If this
happens, the practice is for a bystander to take up the
ball and throw it as hard as he can in the other direction,
so that now the second 8ide have the advantage due to
the impetus. And it is the rule that the game is not con-
sidered as again started until one of that side has touched
the ball, this being done without interruption from the
other side.

Now probably will come the time when the ball gets
checked and entangled among the horses' legs; then
comes a melee, often amusing enough, when, with crowd-
ing of horses, pushing, hooking of sticks — intentionally
as well as by accident, for it is an allowed thing — the ball
remains for long confined and often invisible ; till by some
chance it gets clear and is carried away by some nimble*

THE THICK OF THE GAME. 231

handed one, when a race again begins, to make or save
the goal.

The better players are marvellously good in carrying
the ball along by successive strokes on whichever side of
their horse it may happen to be ; their ponies too, well
knowing their duty, follow it in every turn and to the
best of their speed. But an opponent coming up may
spoil the other's stroke by catching his stick even when
unable to reach the ball itself. Others following close
take up the game, and so it rolls from one goal back to
the other, or to the centre, backwards and forwards often
for long. When the ball enters the goal, even then the
game is not ended; it is not won until a man of the
nearly victorious party, dismounting, picks it up ; so that
there is yet a chance for the other side to strike the ball
out again and carry it away ; but it must be struck out as
it came, between the goal-marks, else the first side have
still the power to pick it up.

The music had been playing nearly the whole time,
with especial force on the taking off and on each rush at
speed, and now, when the ball is caught and the game
won, the band strikes up in sign of victory ; and imme-
diately, no breathing time being given, one of the winning
side gallops out with the ball — commonly the one who,
dismounting, picked it up— and takes off, as before, for a
new game. It is this that brings about the custom of
changing goals at each game ; for the winning side, having
put the ball through their opponents* goal, in starting
afresh from there, make it their own.

In this way the play goes on, without a moment's inter-
mission, may be for a couple of hours or even more, until

232 POLO IN BALTI8TAN.

one side has scored nine garoes, which may have involved
the playing of seventeen ; this makes the rubber, and the
reaching to that number is the signal for resting, or more
probably for closing the game.

Now comes in another ceremony. The winning side,
riding up, collect in front of the musicians, and, while
they play the Balti equivalent for * See the Conquering
Hero comes,' join in with shouts and cheers, and raising
and lowering and waving of their sticks; and then, if
they are much elated with their victory — if some wager,
or some point of credit had been depending on the game
— a few of them will dismount and commence a grotesque
dance to horrible music, accompanied by wild grimaces
and gestures to mark their exultation, the other party
meanwhile having slunk off to the farther end. All this
shows how thoroughly the Baltis and the Dards enter the
game and enjoy victory in it.

Once or twice I was especially glad to find myself on
the winning side. The stake was a salaam, of which
the losers had to fulfil the duties by walking the whole
length of the ground up to the winners, who were seated
at the farther end, bending nearly to the earth in a
salaam at every twenty steps or so ; at each bow the
others raising a cheer. At the last, however, the victors
too rise, and cordially return the salutation. This is most
likely to be the stake when two villages or districts are
the rivals.

Though eager in the game the Baltis play good-
humouredly; sometimes a hard knock is accidentally
given, but I never saw any falling out.

The ponies of Baltistan are admirably adapted for polo ;

TEE PONIES. 233

indeed, this is almost the only use they are put to, for the
roads are too bad for them to be used to carry packs. It
is likely, then, that they have for long been bred and
selected chiefly in view of this use, and their form may
be said to embody the experience of generations of polo-
players as to the right kind of animal for the game ; for
this reason I will say a few words in description. They
stand about twelve hands three inches, or thirteen hands ;
for their size they are rather large-boned ; they are com-
pact in make ; they have a broad chest, a deep shoulder,
a well-formed barrel well ribbed up, and good hind-
quarters, and a small, well-shaped head. They are good
at hill-climbing, and at polo they are very active ; they
are of good heart, going long without giving in, though
they are terribly hard-worked at every game. These
ponies are ridden on a plain snafiSe, and not with the
sharp bit that natives of India are so fond of using. The
Baltis do not wear spurs, but they carry a short whip,
hanging on the wrist, with which they urge their ponies
to full speed.

I wish now to compare the system of polo-playing in
Baltistan with that followed in England. There is not a
great difference between the two, but it may be useful to
discuss some points and perhaps to make some suggestions.

First, for those respects in which I would not recom-
mend the adoption of Balti ways. The plan of a flag-staff
is better than the goal-stone; it enables one to judge
better if a goal has been gained or not, and it is equally
safe if only fixed so that it will go down easily if ridden
against. Next, I see no advantage in the practice of
requiring one of the riders to dismount and pick up the

234 POLO IN BALTISTAN,

ball before the game be considered won ; the game must
end somewhere, and the natural time is when the ball is
put within the goal ; the origin of this Balti custom was,
probably, the struggling among themselves of the men of
the winning side to get the ball, in order to take it off for
the next game. Again, the giving no breathing-time
between the games is not likely to be followed by those so
careful of their horses as are Engh'shmen ; it causes a
useless strain on the animal's wind.

As to hooking of sticks ; the practice certainly is pro-
ductive of amusement and variety. One sometimes sees
a man careering along just ready to give the victor stroke,
unconscious of others following hard upon him, when a
gentle hook will spoil his aim and discomfit his whole
procedure. But I cannot recommend it for Englishmen ;
their tempers will not stand the interruption and con-
sequent vexation ; the practice was tried and disused in
Upper India. Whether with the cooler air and the other
sedative surroundings at home it could safely be adopted
I will not presume to judge.

An important branch of the subject is the question of
the kind of stick to be employed ; certainly, next to one^s
pony the stick deserves attention. There is considerable
variety, the different sorts being used in different parts.
The accompanying cut shows six different forms.

No. 1 may be called the Byzantine stick. I have drawn
it from the idea I received from the description given in
the extract quoted in the note to p. 227, though perhaps
the netted space was more of the shape of a i-acket ; it
would suit best, or only, with a light ball. No. 2 is the
Calcutta stick, taken, I imagine, from the Manipiirts; it

VARIETIES OF STICK.

235

is a stiflf bamboo, four feet or more long, with, for a head,
a cylindrical piece of hard wood. The Balti sticks
(Nos. 3 and 4) have curved heads, the curves being of

•c«it o» ■•■ iNCMas

POLO STICKS.

1, Byzantine; 2, Calcutta; 3, Balti (SkardO, Ac); 4, Balti (Kargil);

5, D&rd.

various degrees of sharpness, according to the fancy of the
player ; some of the best players use a short stick with a
very slightly curved head ; the other diflferences are that
the handle is shorter (being usually 3J feet in length),
thinner, and more elastic ; and the head is much heavier
in proportion to the handle than that of the Calcutta
stick. The head of these Balti sticks is bored right
through for the handle, which is fixed by a tight fastening
round the upper end of the head, this being enabled to
get a grip on the handle by a slot a couple of inches long
being cut in front. It seems that the Calcutta stick is
the only one that has been introduced into England. I
say with confidence, having tried both sorts and seen them
both tried, that the Bait! stick is the better, that more

236 POLO IN BALTI8TAN.

can be done with it. Very likely it takes more time to
learn the use of it; its shortness involves one's getting
nearer the ground — the kind of stick thus reacting on the
style of riding ; for while the Calcutta stick would both
be suited to and tend to perpetuate a stiflF kind of riding,
the Balti stick would encourage a freer and more flexible
style. When one's play is accommodated to a short stick
there is a distinct advantage gained, in that the ball
wil be more lifted by the blow, and be carried farther;
in cross-cuts, agaiu, the Balti sticks are much more
manageable. Their top-heaviness, though awkward for a
beginner, helps the blow to be very effective. The Baltts
do not give the stroke from the wrist, but from the elbow
or the shoulder. No. 5 is the kind of stick used in the
Gilgit country. The section of the head of it is circular,
the handle is elastic. With this sort I was not much
taken ; those who use it — the Dards — make a very dif-
ferent kind of stroke from what the Baltis do ; they give
a short circular stroke from the wrist. This is apt to
raise the ball (and knocks on the knee are not uncommon
from this (!ause), but it does not drive it far, and the game
generally of these players is closer, more shuffly, more of
a nielee than that of Baltistan.

It is almost essential that the head of the Bait! sticks
should have the grain of the wood curved with its curve ;
the piece should be cut from the knee of a branch, or of
course it might be bent by steaming. Birch is most com-
monly used, but probably oak would be as good ; for the
handle, hazel or ash would do well.

As to the ground, the Baltis will have it that their
long narrow spaces are the best, and they wish for nothing

AND IN ENGLAND, 237

better. Still tliere can be no doubt that it is only the
character of their country, the confined area available,
that brought about the rule of narrow polo-grounds, and,
perhaps, the practice of all riding in one direction. I
myself think that a square of 200 yards, with the goals in
the middle of two opposite sides of it, leaves little to be
desired. If, indeed, it were possible to enclose the area
by any kind of turf wall, or by boarding, which should be
smooth enough for the ball to rebound from it at the cal-
culated angle, then a narrower ground — not so narrow,
however, as those of Baltistan — would give opportunities
for very pretty play. In any case, the bounds should be
conspicuously marked.

We now come to the subject of tactical rules. One
cannot help allowing considerable weight to the fact of
three, if not four. Englishmen having lost their lives at
this game v\ithin the first ten years of its introduction into
Upper India. Considering the small number of places
where it is practised, this is a large proportion. In Bal-
tistan, fatal accidents at polo are hardly known, and it
behoves us to examine whether this may not be due to
their different way of conducting the game. I have little
doubt that this freedom from accident arises from the
galloping being done by all in the same direction at one
time ; there is no meeting ; both sides start together and
ride together after the ball. This is a very different thing
from two sides being drawn up opposing each other, as in
a tournament, and galloping towards each other. Afl to
the commencing, the Balti plan of striking the ball in the
air at a gallop is much more workmanlike — ^requiring as
it does some considerable skill — than any other.

238 POLO IN BALT18TAN.

I must try to efface an impression that has lately got
abroad, that polo is a cause of cruelty to the ponies. It
can only be so if racing be cruel to race-horses, and hunt-
ing to hunters. The truth is that the game brings out a
horse's capabilities, exercises his faculties, and so makes
him fulfil the object of his life, in the highest degree. In
the heat of the game a blow from the ball on his shin or
knee (a joint by no means so tender as our knee, with
which it does not correspond in structure) is hardly felt,
and this is about the worst that is likely to happen with
moderate care in playing, which care should be dictated
by a consideration for both man and beast. If one ex-
poses the ponies to no greater risk of injury than we do
ourselves at polo, or at football — and I cannot think their
risk is greater —then the best friends of animals should be
satisfied.

SKAEDU TO LEE. 239

CHAPTER XVI.

SKARDU TO LEH.

From Skardii to Leh, the capital of Ladakh, is some
two hundred miles by the road. It is a route little fre-
quented, and it is seldom traversed by any but foot-
passengers. Persevering Baltis are to be met with, who
bring this way the sweet produce of their orchards, the
dried apricots, which are in great favour and demand in
the cold countries of Ladakh and Tibet ; or some may be
seen returning from their tour of labour in parts strange
to them, high laden with the manufactured things which
will fiud a good market in Baltistan.

Though the valley of the Indus connects the two
towns, the way by the river is so hard in parts that the
traveller will turn from it to follow the course of the
Shayok, and will afterwards regain the bank of the Indus
Kiver, by crossing a Pass nearly 17,000 feet high, over one
of the great mountain ridges. But we ourselves will
continue in the Indus Valley, and, as we trace it up, notice
what changes gradually occur.

The wide valley of Skardft soon narrows, the river
becomes confined to a rocky gorge, and the path leads
along between its steep banks and the hill-sidas, which
are mountain spurs that unite farther back with a lofty
range. But sometimes the path leads across a piece of
sandy alluvium, sometimes over the great rugged blocks

A _ A

240 SKARDU TO LEH.

of a talus, and sometimes on the face of a cliff washed at
the base by the river, the road being carried on precarions-
looking timbered galleries fixed into small projections of
the rock. The scenery is always of stony expanses and
rugged rocks; only at every few miles a pretty village at
the opening of a ravine pleases one by its thick crops and
the foliage of its fruit-trees, which here also flourish.*

Each of these village tracts is situated on what I have
called an alluvial fan ; I may now explain the exact
meaning I attach to that term: — When a side stream
debouches from a narrow gorge into a wider valley, it b
apt to deposit the material it carries down (washed from
the mountains behind) in a fan-like form at the mouth of
the ravine. This fan is part of a low cone, having its
apex at the point of debouchment ; the slope of it, which
may be a few degrees, is very regular along each radios ;
the spread of it may vary from a few hundred yards to a
few miles ; the thickness of the deposit, the height of the
apex above the plain or the main- valley bottom, is often
many hundred feet.

The fans frequently have become denuded, that is to say,
cut up ; their remains are sloping plateaus (with a slight
curvature of surface) attached to the hill-sides in front of
the ravines; these plateaus are commonly divided into
halves by a gully, through which the side stream now
flows at a low level, and they may end in a cliff towards
the main river. The importance of these fans (whether
they be whole or denuded ones) with respect to the

* The Sh&yok Valley, 'whioh bninches to the loft as we go op, I have
not VLsite^l in this its lower part; from Dr. Thomp^jon's descriptioii it
seems to have much the same genend character as that of the Indus, but
perhaps With greater variation in width.

TEE VILLAGES PASSED. 241

habitation of the oountry consists in this, that it is chiefly,
though not nniyersaUy, upon them that (the water of the
side streams being led over them for irrigation) the ground
is capable of cultivation.*

Every few miles these fans and their accompanying
villages occur, on one side of the river or the other.
The sloping ground is artificially banked and levelled
into narrow terrace fields, and often backed by great
rocks that, with a £ftvourable aspect, reflect the heat, and
act almost like the walls of our fruit-gardens. They are
richly carpeted with heavy^eared crops and crowded with
fruit-trees, the bright greenness of whose leaves delights
the eye of the traveller who for many miles has wearied
under the sameness of gazing at nothing but rook and
loosened stones, and the shade of whose boughs is itself
a reward for the exposure, and toil, as, after the glare
that one is exposed to on a summer day's march among
these bare mountains, one lies by the stream that ripples
beneath them.

One of the largest of the villages is Ehartaksho, where,
standing high on a rock, is the house of one of the native
rulers, who, like his brethren of Skftrdft and Bondd, has
lost all political importance. A few marches higher we
come to the limits of Baltist&u, and enter the oountry of
Ladakh. The political boundary is between the villages
of Grarkon and Dah ; the colouring on the map shows the
ethnographical variations that occur in this part; of
physical character there is no suddeti changa

* For details aboot the fofmation and denudation of hxm In LidAkh I
must refer the reader to a paper read by me befova the Geologioal Sooiety,
and printed in their ' Quarterly Journal/ toL sziz. part &

B

242 SKABDjf^ TO LEE.

Here the bottom of the Indus Valley is a narrow, rock-
bound gorge. The river flows in it with an eddied, but
not uneven, surface ; its depth must be great to allow the
body of water to pass along such a narrow channel, for I
found that the width was in one place but sixty-fiye feet^
and in another but forty-six. The walls of this gorge are
nearly vertical; above them rise other steep^ but more
broken, cliffs ; above these the ground retires, but there
are greater heights behind. All this is of granitic rock.
Over this rocky ground the path is a difficult one; a
laden horse cannot go along it, and with difficulty can an
unladen pony be led. It is the same on both sides of the
river. This difficulty of the road isolates the Tillages of
this part of the valley and cuts them off greatly from
intercourse.

This, as it is the lowest, is also the warmest part of
Ladakh. The level of the river is about 9000 feet ; but
even at this height the valley in summer time is hot.
The unclouded sun heats the bare rocks that slope to
meet its rays ; the traveller, as he goes along the rugged
way, is exposed on one side to the sun's direct rays, and on
the other to a strong radiation from the ground, while the
pent-up air itself becomes hot and gives no relief. Bat^
after a toilsome drag for some miles over this waste of
heated ground, he reaches one of the little viUages, a space
covered with crops of a brilliant green, overshadowed by
luxuriant fruit-trees, in the midst of the barest rocks.

Garkon is the one most curious in its situation. It
consists of very narrow strips or ledges of flat watered
ground, between separate stages of a great river-<5liff, so
that on one side there is a precipitous fall, while on

GARKON AND BAH. 243

the other vertical cliffs overhang the narrow fields, which,
receiving their radiated heat, quickly ripen the crops;
even at night the place does not lose its heat. Water
is led over the fields from a ravine that comes from the
high mountains. Apple, apricot, mulberry, and the vine
are cultivated, in company with the cereals, on the narrow
space, and flourish well with the combination of moisture
and warmth.

In going from Garkon to the next village, called Ddh,
we pass, as before said, from Baltistan into Ladakh. The
Baltis were in former times apt to make raids upon their
more peaceable neighbours. Dah, as the frontier village,
I)rotected itself by the agglomeration of its houses together
to form a sort of fort; on two sides protection is given by
a steep cliflT, on two by a wall, with a good tower to guard
the entrance to the enclosure. Now that all are under
one government, and perfect peace has ensued, the dwell-
ings are scattered ; but still in winter time the people
from the outlying houses and hamlets join to live within
the old enclosure, for warmth and for mirth's sake. Within
its walls the ground is almost all roofed over, hardly any
space is left for alleys, passages from one house to another
are led beneath the rooms of a third; the whole is a
strange crowding together of hovels.

Besides the villages which lie along the Indus Valley,
there are several in the side valleys which join from
both right and left. At the mouth of these valleys
one sees but a narrow opening; from this they often
stretch up for miles, and contain cultivated land and
several hamlets. Of these the higher ones endure a
distinctly more severe climate than do the villages of the

A _ A

244 SKARDU TO LEK

main valley. Here also strips of cultivated gronnd alter-
nate with rocky tracts ; but the fruit-trees, willows, and
poplars gradually disappear. Above the cultivation, the
ravines lead up into rocky wastes in the heart of the
hills. Those on the right bank lead to the watershed
of the Leh Range; sometimes they lead to a more or
less frequented Pass, sometimes to a rocky ridge that
man never reaches for the reason that there is nothing
to draw him, sometimes to ground so precipitous and
impracticable that mortal foot cannot tread it.

At Achinathang the Indus Valley begins to be rather
lesflr confined, and the road along it is such that one can
ride in comfort. Achinathang itself is a neat and pretty
village, on a plateau of river alluvium 200 feet above the
water. Near this place, in the pebbly alluvium formerly
deposited by the river, at a height of 120 feet above it,
are to be seen shallow pits, from which Baltt gold-
washers had dug earth, which they carried down to the
water side to wash for gold. Every few miles, on each
side of the river, are seen little tracts of cultivated
ground. One was a continuous strip on a narrow plateau,
a mile in length, and but fifty yards wide. Sometimes, as
at Skirbichan, is a wider expanse. Each tract has on it a
collection of houses in proportion to the area, at the rate
of a house to three or four acres. These white houses,
half hidden by the foliage, and the spread of green fields,
contrasting with the bare surrounding country, make each
little village a charming sight.

The inhabitants of the villages from Sanacha to
Hanu are those Buddhist Ddrds whom I described in
Chapter xi. From the village of Achinathang upwards,

TEE ROAD FROM KASHMIR JOINS. 245

the people are thorough Ladakhis in race and in lan-
guage. The next chapter will tell us their character-
istics, but it may be mentioned in this place that in this
part the Ladakhis are well grown ; they are taller than
those who live in the neighbourhood of Leh. This I
connect with the somewhat milder climate, and the conse-
quently less severe life experienced.

Next above the part of the Indus we have been speak-
ing of, we come to Ehalsi, where the road from Kashmir
reaches the Indus Valley; hence, onwards, that road
coincides with our own. Four days' journey is still be-
fore us.

At Ehalsi the Indus is spanned by a wooden bridge,
where rocks narrow it up to a width of sixty or seventy
feet only. The bridge is commanded by a small fort on
the higher bank; the path from the bridge is, indeed,
led along the covered way half round the fort. The
village of Ehalsi is on a plateau about 250 feet above
the river. There is here a long strip of cultivated land
watered from a side stream ; crops and fruit-trees grow
on it well, and even luxuriantly; walnuts and apricots
ripen, though the height above the sea is something over
10,000 feet.

From Khalhi there are two routes that may be taken,
which will unite again one march short of Leh. The
fu-st we shall speak of is a road along a series of plateaus,
some 1500 feet above the river. We reach them by
turning up a ravine to the left, by which we get on to
a high plain between an outer, low, range of hills that
skirt the river valley itself and the inner, high, mountain
range.

246 SKARDU TO LEH.

This plain is interrnpted by cross valleys that, origi-
nating in the higher range, pass through the lower one
down to the Indus; the plain thus becomes divided up
into wide necks of land. The lofty granite range that
for a long distance divides the valley of the Indus
from that of its great tributary, the Shayok, bounds these
plains on the north. For the greater part of the way,
spurs of it only are visible — rugged and bare^ brown and
yellow, hills, whose surface is much-disjointed rock ; but
sometimes the eye reaches up the valleys to the lofty
central rido:e, still of the same character, or else, perhaps,
touched with the white of some recent snowMl.

A noted place that we pass is Himis Shukpa. This
is named after a grove of a hundred or two large shukfA^
or pencil-cedar, trees which there grow about a stony
mouud. The girth of several of these trees is six or seven
feet, and some that have irregular 'trunks measure ten
feet and more ; they taper quickly upwards, reaching to a
height of about forty feet; it is a holy grove protected
by the gods ; disease and misfortune are said to overtake
those who commit sacrilege against it. At Himis Shukpa
are remains of a fort or tower, which was built by the
Sokpos, who invaded Ladakh towards the end of the
seventeenth century; I was told that they built alick
towers in many places, and that this was the most
we^terly of them.

The two routes that had separated near Khalst meet
again at the village of Bazgo. Along the valley route
we should have passed larger villages, but not many of
them ; two on a day's march are as much as one meeta
Nurla and Saspiil are the most important of those we

WINTER TRAVELLING. 247

pass. Of the hills that bound the yalley, those on the
right bank (on onr left as we go) belong to the range
of secondary height that interrenes between the riyer
and the plateaos trayersed in the other ronte. On the
left bank the prominent mountains are 2000 feet or so
high aboTe the valley ; these are bnt the ends of spurs
from a range that rises 6000 or 7000 feet higher, namely,
to 18,000 or 19,000 feet above the sea.

I have described what kind of travellingit is to traverse
the valley below Ehalst in sommer time — ^toiling on foot
along rongh stony tracks or np rocky dopes under a
powerful snn. This present part I have gone over both
in summer and in winter; and^inspiteof a severity of cold
in the air fer greater than I have experienced in Eng-
land, I have been more comfortable on the winter journey.
It was in January ; the snow was felling lightly, keeping,
as it fell, dry and powdery ; the river was froien in nunre
than one place, so that we could cross, and choose which
bank to go along, while near Nurla we were aUe to ride
for a mile or two on the ice over the Indus itsell Thus
by ice and snow the way was made smoother; l^m^aM*^
coats and caps and felt stockings kept out the oold, and
the best houses of the villages afforded at every stage
a shelter that in that season was welcome and oomfortaUe.

Above SaspM the river in places flows where the load
cannot follow it, in narrow inaccessible gorges. As before
said, the valley and the higher roads meet at the aeort
village, Bazgo; this, as one looks down on it firoim the
edge of the neighbouring plateau, has a piotniesque and
strange appearance on account of the position of some
of its buildings, as of the monastery, on atowering rook.

248 SKARDU TO LEE.

The Zanskar Biver^ of great volumey here joins the Indus
on the opposite side.

As we approached Pitak we came to a more open part
of the valley. Pitak is the last village before Leh. All
the cultivated spots hitherto met with in Lad&kh were
watered from side streams — ^streams coming almost imme-
diately from the mountains with a more or less steep fifiJL
But at Pitak the land is irrigated from the Indus itseUl
For we are here at the beginning of a part of the Indus
Valley where the bottom is wide and is occupied by a flat
of alluvium^ over which the waters of the main stream can
be brought.

At Pitak there is an isolated rock a few hundred feet
high^ on which all the older buildings are situated. The
monastery is on the summit at one end^ and there is a for-
tification — of two towers connected by a double wall — ^that
must have helped to make the rock a strong position.
Formerly all the houses were^ for protection's sake, built
thus high up ; this was very commonly the case thronglH
out Lad&kh, only in the last generation or so have the
people taken generally to building in the plain.

We are now but five miles from Leh^ the capital ;
indeed it is within sight from the summit of the rock ;
let us from here take a general view of the geographical
position of that town.

The river is 10,500 feet above the sea; it is flowing
with a gentle current in a flat, the surface of which is in
great part of pebbles only, but here and there it is of such
a fine alluvial soil that the people have been able to bring
it under cultivation. On the south-west side this low
flat is bordered by a stretch of sloping gravelly ground.

POSITION OF THE TOWN, 249

consisting of a number of coalesced fans that have been
deposited by streams having their origin in the mountains
on the south — mountains which rise up to 20,000 feet.
On the north-east of the river there continues the same
great granite ridge, at the foot of which we have been
passing ; the summit of it is about twelve miles from the
Indus, as the crow flies. The line of ridge is from 18,000
to 19,000 feet high. The Passes through it are 17,000
and 18,000 feet.

A valley, coming down from this great central ridge,
bounded close by rocky branch-ridges, at the distance of
four miles from the river, widens, the spurs of the hills
both becoming lower and retreating aside, insomuch that
there occurs an open space of the form nearly of an
equilateral triangle, the side of it five miles in length.
The town of Leh is at the apex of this triangle, where the
valley begins to widen. Bocky hill-spurs form the sides,
the river Indus the base, Pitak being at one end of the
base.

This triangular space is not a level ; it has a steady,
gentle slope up from the river. Advancing from Pitak,
we rise, in the five or six miles, about 1000 feet, the alti-
tude of the town of Leh being 11,500 feet. The lower
part of the slope (of which the whole consists of a gravelly
alluvial deposit) is dry and stony, but as we go on we
come within the tract that the side stream has been able
to supply with irrigating water, and find a space of several
hundred acres covered with crops.

Here, by the farther edge of this cultivated space, on one
of the branch spurs from the hills and spreading onto the
plain in front of it, is built the town of Leh. The most

A A

250 SKARDU TO LEH,

conspicuous object in it is the palace of the former rulers,
an edifice boldly built up to the height of eight or ten
stories from the shoulder of the spur; a slight in-leaning
of the massive walls gives it a great look of strength.
Higher up, on the same rocky ridge, are the monastery
and the towers of an old fortification. Below, in front of
the palace, houses cover the slope. On the flat beneath
is the newer part of the town. Entering from the direetion
of Kashmir we pass through a small gateway and find
ourselves in a long, wide, and straight bazaar, the houses
regularly built and uniformly whitewashed. This has
been erected since the Dogrds took the country, and is
now the place that is most frequented. At the fiarther
end of this bazaar one passes into the old part of the town,
among houses separated by narrow winding passages.
As one rises on to the slope of the hill one meets with a
fiBw houses of a higher class ; these were built by the
Kahlons, or ministers of the former sovereigns, and now
for the most part belong to their representatives.

Outside the city are several gardens, or what are here
so called ; in truth they are plantations of willow and of
poplar. These plantations are extremely useful, both for
their grateful shade — which is the first thing a traveller
will look for in these parts in summer time — and as a re*
serve of timber for building, a thing in Ladakh extremely
scarce. On the east of the town the mountains are near
and there is no cultivation ; but to the west, the whole
width of the valley, about three-quarters of a mile, is of
cultivated land, descending in terraces, with small hamlets
scattered over it.

THE INHABITANTS OF LADAKH. 251

CHAPTEE XVII.

THE INHABITANTS OP LADAKH.

In the word Ladakh we have again the name of an ancient
kingdom ; one of those many which have been fused down
to make the territory ruled over by the Maharaja. Here
we are completely in Tibet, and the kingdom of Ladakh
was, before its annexation to Jummoo, tributary to the
Grand Lama of Tibet at Llasa. In extent it may be
understood as including those valleys marked with the
middle and lightest pink tints, and the uninhabited
heights between and around them, that are denoted by the
grey; this extent is roughly near two hundred miles in
each direction.

The two tints just mentioned show that the country is
inhabited by two subdivisions of the Tibetan race, the
Ladakhi and Champa ; the former are the settled in-
habitants, who live in houses ; the Champas are nomads,
tent-dwellers, who migrate season by season, though
coming periodically to the same places, and keeping
always within the territory.

The Ladakhis have the Turanian cast of feature — that
which we are apt to call Chinese, from our having become
most familiar with it through the Chinese division of the
Turanian family. They have it not perhaps in its greatest
intensity, but still unmistakably. The cheek-bones are
higli ; from them downwards the face rapidly narrows ;
the chin is small and usually retreats. The most per-

252 THE INHABITANTS OF LADAKH.

sistent peculiarity is that of the eyes, of which the outer
corners are drawn out and the upper eyelids are overhung
by a fold of the skin above. The eyes are brown in
colour. The nose is pressed, so to say, into the fSetoe ; and
it is often, but not always, depressed at the bridge. The
mouth is large and inexpressive ; the lips project, but are
not thick. The hair, which is black, is cut quite close in
front and at the sides of the head ; behind, it is collected
into a plait or pigtail, which reaches about to the small
of the back. Moustaches are always or nearly always
present, but they are small, and the beard is very scant

In stature the Ladakhis are short, several inches below
the English middle height. Cunningham gives nearly
5 feet 2 inches as the height of the men, and 4 feet
9{ inches as that of the women. Both sexes are broad-
made and strong. There is no doubt that they are an
ugly race ; their best friends cannot deny it. As to the
women, the best that can be said of their looks is that
some of the younger ones are " not so bad looking.'^*

One is glad, on coming to the subject of their character,
to find more to be praised. The Ladakhts are cheerful,
willing, and good-tempered; they are very ready for a
laugh ; they are not quarrelsome, unless it be when ex-
cited by their intoxicating drink, changy and if over that
they do get to wrangling or fighting, no bad blood
remains afterwards. They are by no means ingenious;
simplicity and clumsiness are characteristics of them.
There could hardly be two national characters more
opposed than those of the Ladakhts and the Eashmtrts ;
these latter, quick, versatile, and plausible; the others
slow, inapt, and much given to truth-telling. The

THE SETTLED LADAKhTs. 263

Lad&khts, however, bare bj no meang poor tiiidet^
Btandings ; they are not maddle-headed, bat vill loam
to understand clearly if given a fair time and opportunity.
Major Godwin-Aasten has with tmth remarked that in one
respect the liadaktu writers far excel the munslite, or
writers, of India — that is, in the understanding of a map.
Their dress is simple ; it is all woollen, of a coarae and
thick, bat not very closely-woren, home-made cloth, of a
natural drab colour. The men wear a ekoga, or wide and
long coat, folded over doable in front, and confined at
the waist by a woollen kamarband, or scarf. They wear
nothing beneath this ; with boots and cap, and may be an
extra wrapper, their attire is complete. Aa to cap, there
is an old and a new fashion. The old BOTt <A cap, stiU a
great deal worn, but chiefly in those parts that are oat of
the way of traffic from foreign conntries, ia of the peculiar
form shown in the cut. The part that falls over, aa Ear as
I could make out, does no
good to the wearer. The
Kashmiris have an absurd story
about these caps, that their
origin was from the time when
a force of Mughal soldiers from
Kashmir, under Ibrahim Khfin,
came to help the Ladakh mler
against the Sokpo invaders.

When this force was retiring, one of the troopers dropped
his horse's tdbrd, or noee-bag, which a TjHaVht piokug H
np, wore for a cap ; and the fashion was so much admired
that it became general. The other sorts of head-dress are
a jaunty skoll-cap, which is the newer &ahion, and a com-

254 THE INHABITANTS OF LADAKH.

fortable lambskin cap, with large ear-flaps, whioh in sammer
are stack up behind in a curious way, but in winter they
make the best possible protection against the severe cold.

To the Ladakhi his boots are a matter of great
importance. The stony ground, and in winter the biting
snow, require precautions. A piece of thick leather
makes the sole, and is moulded round for the sides
of the feet as well ; a felt or a cloth top is joined on to
this, to reach above the ankle ; the leg is further pro-
tected by felt gaiters, secured by a tape wound many
times round. This chaussure is good against cold, and is
not bad for rock-climbing where the ground is dry.

The women wear a gown, the skirt somewhat gathered
into plaits, of vertical strips of woollen cloth, generally
blue and red alternately but sometimes patterned, sewn
together. Over the shoulders is worn a kind of shawl, of
sheepskin with the wool inside. For head-dress they have
only a strip of cloth, ornamented with shells or with rough
turquoises, from the forehead back over the middle of the
head, and lappets of cloth edged with fur over the ears,
but under the hair. They wear the same sort of shoes as
the men. The dress of neither men nor women varies
with the season of the year.

The only division of the Lad&khis — the only caste
division — is that the blacksmiths and the musicians
belong to castes which are considered low ; the blacksmith
caste, I believe, being thought the lowest of all. These
low castes are called Bern ; with none of them will the
ordinary Ladakhi intermarry.

The priesthood of Lamas does not make a caste ; the
ofiSce is not hereditary, indeed the Lamas are celibates.

THE NOMAD CHAMP AS. 255

The Ghdmpds inhabit the higher country— the yalley of
the Indus above the villages^ the other plains, or flat-
bottomed valleys, of Bupshu, and a few outlying places.

They are not very different from the Lad&khis. The
difference in the face that struck me was that the Ch&m-
pas have rather a projecting chin, while the Ladftkhts, as
before said, have a receding one; the Oh&mpfts, again,
have a more expressive mouth. Their different occupa-
tion would be sure to produce some changes ; or rather, it
should be said, probably, that the settled life of the in-
habitants of the villages bad changed these last from what
their ancestors were, who lived the nomad life, and who
now are represented by the Chftmp&s. For it is likely
that the course of events was this — ^that, of the Tibetans,
spreading north-westward, some reached a country they
were able to settle in and to cultivate, while some re-
mained in the higher parts, and kept to their pastoral
ways.

They are a most hardy and a most cheerful set of
people. Living all their lives in a severely cold dimate,
and getting a scanty subsistence, they still have the beat
of spirits. When, after a day's journey, they colleot
round the scanty fire that is warming their evening meal,
their merry laughter shows what a good heart they can
keep, in what, to strangers, seem to be the hardest of cir-
cumstances. Their lives are spent in tents ; they stay Ux
a month or two at a time in one spot, to grdse their flocks
and herds, and then they move with them whither the
advancing season promises better pasture. Some few
details of their way of living will be given when we come
to describe the country itself which they frequent.

256 THE INHABITANTS OF LADAKH.

The dress of the Champas is almost the same as that of
the Ladakhis, only that some of them wear the long wide
coat of lambskin, instead of woollen cloth.

As a rule, the Champas and Ladakhis do not inter-
marry. The religion of the two is the same, but it lies
light on the Champas. Their young men do not become
Lamas. The number of these Champas within this terri-
tory is very small ; there are hardly more than a hundred
families of them. Ethnologically they are not different
from those who inhabit the next tracts to the south-eaat-
country which is under the Government of Lhasa.

There are some families who come and go with the
summer, and a very few who have settled, of a race called
Kliamba. They are of the country named Kham, far to
the east of Lhasa. By what road they first came from
their own country I know not, but now they reach the
districts of Zanskar and Bupshu from, strange to say, the
side of India. They are of Tibetan race, and their lan-
guage, though different from that of our Ch&rapfts, still
can be understood by them. The Khamba are profes-
sional beggars, of a very vagrant disposition ; they wander
about some part of India in the cold months, and find
their way up here in the summer, subsisting by b^ging.
It is strange that they should come to such a poor country
as the higher parts of Ladakh for the exercise of their
calling; but the Shots, though poor, are charitable.
These Khambas, too, give themselves a religious air, as
do most beggars in the East, and that may help them.
But, in truth, in their ways they are more like to the
gipsies than to devotees. They have their wives and
children with them, and these all come round in succession

A PEASANTRY. 257

to beg, as if independent of each other. They live in
the smallest of tents ; these are only just high enough
for a man to seat himself on the ground beneath them.
The tent and their other traps are carried on the backs of
a few of the load-carrying goats which they always possess.
The Maharaja 8 authorities have tried to persuade some of
these Khamba to take to agriculture, and a bit of land has
been given for this object by the Pangkong Lake. I saw one
family there, who had commenced to till, and hai left off
their inveterate habit of begging ; but they were still in
tents, and had not begun to build a house.

Almost all the Ladakhis are engaged in agriculture;
the number of artisans is very small indeed, and of shop-
keepers of that race there are hardly any; the shop-
keepers of the town of Leh — ^the only town in the whole
country — are either Muhammadan half-castes or are
strangers. Thus the greater part of the population of
Ladakh are connected with the soil. They form a pea-
santry tilling their own land. The area cultivated by one
family is from two to four acres. From the produce of
this, and from the incomings of miscellaneous labour which
they undertake, they manage to pay the Government
demand and to get for themselves a fair living. The
sons of a family neither divide the heritage nor them-
selves separate, but they enjoy the estate in common, in
one household ; the domestic institution which is neces-
sarily connected with this arrangement will be spoken of
farther on. The people of rank also have their interest
in the soil ; some have grants of land, free, or to a certain
extent free, of the Government land-tax ; others have

s

258 THE INHABITANTS OF LADAKH.

land bearing that burden, which they are able to make
some profit out of by employing labourers.

The grain which is most prolific^ and which is grown to
the greatest extent, is grim, or loose-grained barley, and
it is the meal of this grain that the Ladakhts mostly eat.
Grim is a hardy plant ; it is cultivated even at the height
of 15,000 feet. This height indeed is exceptional ; there
is only one place at that altitude where it grows, about
twelve acres being there sown with it ; but at 13,700 and
14,000 feet there are villages dependent on its culti-
vation. At lower levels, besides the grim, wheat is grown;
but little of this is consumed by the Ladakhts themselves ;
they grow it for the market, for the use of the people of
the town, and of the travelling merchants. Wheat does
well up to 11,500 feet; it is cultivated, but with less
success, even at 12,800 feet. Peas and barley (of the
kind common in other countries) are crops that grow at
almost as great heights as any. This barley is given to
horses.

In the lower parts of Ladakh, from 10,500 or 10,000
feet downwards, two crops can be got off the same land.
I think that barley or grim is, commonly, the first and
millet the second crop. Bice does not grow in Ladakh.
Maize has been tried in a garden without much success ;
the ears of it, which I saw, were only four inches long.

Every crop, as has been said, requires irrigation for its
growth ; several times has the land to be watered to
bring on the plant. In the middle of Ladakh, if there be
a sufiScient supply of water, the crop is secure ; there sun*
shine never fails for the ripening of it. In Zanskar, how-
ever, which is near the most snowy range, and in some of

THEIE MODE OF LIVING. 259

the very high parts, there is sometimes a failure of the
sun-warmth necessary to ripen the grain.

Ploughing is done chiefly with the hybrid of the y&k
bull and the common cow ; this they call zo if male,
and zomo if female. The yak itself is not good for the
plough.* The corn is sometimes reaped with a sickle,
sometimes pulled up by the roots from the loose soiL

The universal food of the people is barley-meal, made
from grim; it is either made into a broth and dnmk
warm, or else into a sort of dough, and eaten with butter-
milk, if that can be got. They generally have three
meals — one an hour or two after sunrise, of the barley-
broth ; one at midday, of the dough ; a third after
sunset, of the broth again. In this way they consume
some two pounds weight of meal a day. To the broth
they put any addition they can get; sometimes it is
vegetable, sometimes meat, and sometimes tea.

Unlike the natives of India, the Ladakhts are not par-
ticular as to their feeding. They obey few restrictions as
to what to eat or how to eat it, or as to the method of
slaughtering. One way they have of killing an animal
for food is to tie up the mouth and let it be suffocated.
Another practice of theirs (I am not sure that it is
common) is to drain the blood of the animal into their
broth, and warm all up together.

The drink of the Ladakhis is e&ofi^, a light beer Hiade
without hops.t They have no good vessels to keep it in, so

* The y^, however, is yery useful for ourying hardens. The T,a/i4lrl|t^
earn a good deal as carriers of merchantir good* with their yftks, their iob»
and their ponies.

t For the better brews, a plant brought fhnn Baltist&n is used in the
same way and with somewhat the same effects as aie hops in our beer.

260 THE INHABITANTS OF LADAKH.

it usually is sour by the time it is drunk. As I haTO drunk
it, it tasted like a cross between home-brewed beer and
farmhouse cider. It is not a bad beverage on a warm
day ; but these people will enjoy it in the depth of a
severe winter. There is also a spirit sometimes made —
a whisky ; but this is proscribed by law. Through the
Maharaja's territories generally, the making and the
drinking of intoxicating liquors is forbidden.* At one
time an order was made that in accordance with this rale
the drinking of chaug should be put down ; but on the
representations of the Ladakhis that it had been the
beverage of their nation from time immemorial, and that
it would be impossible to endure the cold of their climate
without it, they were allowed the malt liquor; the re-
striction as to the spirit, however, remains. Tea is
another favourite drink in this country, but the poor
people — that is nearly all the population — seldom are
able to afford it ; it is made in. a chum, with butter
added.

With such food and drink as has been described, the
Ladakhis are one of the hardiest of races. As coolis, for
carrying loads, they are admirable — ^not only the men,
but the women too. I have had women employed to
carry my luggage, according to the custom of the
country, who have done twenty-three or twenty-four
miles with sixty pounds on their back, and have come
in at the end singing cheerfully. Against cold, too, they
are very strong. Not that they equal in this respect the
Champas, who live at still greater heights, and can hardly
bear to be as low down as 11,000 feet. Still the people
of Central Ladakh and of Zanskar are very hardy in this

* ChriBtians are Rpeoiallv exempted from the operation of this law.

THEIR HARDINESS. 261

respect also; on a frosty night, with nothing but the
clothes they go in, they will coil themselves up and sleep
comfortably on the bare stony ground. All have a rooted
objection to w£ishing. I was told that there was a custom
of bathing once a year, but I could never get any satis-
factory corroboration of the report. Their clothes, worn
next them, are never washed, but are affectionately kept
around them until they fall to pieces.

Of the wants rife in a barren country like Ladakh, there
are two which (perhaps without, or at all events in addi-
tion to, other difficulties) seem to make impossible either
any great addition to the population or increase of their
comforts. These are want of fuel and want of timber.
For fuel the dung of cattle is carefully stored. This is
supplemented in some parts by a bush, which they pull
from the hills, that they call butise (Eurotia). This plant
is indeed a great resource for travellers in out-of-the-way
parts ; it is a small, low-growing bush, the woody under-
ground stem of which makes a good fueL Then, in the
high valleys, there is a plant like onr furze, called ddma.
On some hill-sides there is the pencil-cedar, a strong-
bumiug wood; aud lastly, in certain ravines, there is
willow growing wild. All these, however, firom their
distance, require much labour to collect ; they are seldom
used by the Ladakhts in their own booses, but are chiefly
got by them for travellers and for the town oonsnmptioiL
The timber-trees are willow and poplar. These are planted
either along the watercourses between the fields, or now
and then in separate plantations. But the growth is not
enough to supply all that is wanted. When the new
bazaar at Leh was built^ a great old plantation, belonging
to the chief monastery, was felled for the purpose, nothing

262 THE INHABITANTS OF LADAKK

approaching to whicli is now to be seen in the country.
The difficulty in the way of plantations seems to be that
there is required for them positions advantageous in point
of soil and water which are already occupied by crops.
One can hardly increase the growth of timber without
diminishing the breadth of land tilled, and of that there
is none too much.

The houses are built of sun-dried bricks or of stone.
They are flat-roofed, of two or three stories, but these
all very low. Except in the very poorest houses there
is always a reception room kept neat and clean, the rest
not having this character. When a visitor comes they
carpet this room with felts, and do all they can to make
him and his attendants comfortable. The houses are
all wliitewashed ; the aspect of them — perhaps among
groups of trees, or else standing out in relief &om the
sombre rock on which they may be built, rising one behind
the other on the face of it — with their verandah-rooms
or with balconies projecting, is often bright and pleasant.
The houses of people of the higher ranks have an oratory
for the practice of the Buddhist religious ceremonies.

The palace at Leh is probably the finest building ia
the country, though some of the monasteries may ap-
proach it. This palace is curiously contrived. The
arrangement of the rooms is very irregular; they are
not in continuous stories, but are at all sorts of leyels,
connected by narrow and low passages. There are two
or three large reception rooms, some of them with an
opening to the sky in the centre, this plan allowing of
a large fire burning in winter on the floor of the room.
The roofs of these large rooms were supported by colunoina

POSITION OF THE WOMEN. 263

with the wide-extending head or capital which is so
marked a feature in Indian architecture; the columns,
and indeed most of the woodwork, were gaily coloured,
and on the walls were painted sacred pictures.

To a native of India, the complete social liberty of the
women of Ladakh seems very strange. This liberty, I
think it may be said, is as gr^at as that of workmen's
wives in England ; not only do Ladakht women go about
unveiled, but also they mix where men frequent and
enter with them into their pursuits of business or plea-
sure, and partake too of their toil. I have told what
good weight-carriers the women are ; in agriculture also
they take their share of the work ; when the seed is in,
the tending of the fields — the watering and so on — ^is a
great deal left to the women, the men perhaps having
work abroad.

Thus far we may think woman's position here to be
better than in India, but what is next to tell darkens
the picture. Polyandry, plurality of husbands, is, except
among the few richer people, quite general; it is much
more nearly universal than is polygamy in India, and
for this reason, that polygamy is a custom itself expen-
sive, practically reserved for the well-to-do, while poly-
andry is an economical arrangement, one established on
the poverty of a barren country, and extending throughoat
the people as far as indigence itself does.

There can be no doubt that the piactioe of polyandry
in Ladakh originated from the smallness of the extent
of land that could be tilled, and the general inelasticity
of the country's resources, while the isolation from the
rest of the world— isolation of manners, language, and

2G4 THE INHABITANTS OF LADAKK

religion, as well as geographical isolation — hindered
emigration. It was found impossible for the younger
ones either to marry and settle or to go out for their
living. They naturally became mere helpers in the
household — farm servants to the elder brother. Prom
that there came about the curious custom that when
the elder brother marries a wife she becomes a wife to
all the brothers. The children recognize all as father,
speaking of their elder and their younger fathers. Ag
many as four brothers thus may become, and do become,
husbands to the same wife; I believe there is no limit
at all, but of as many as this I have known instances.

In addition to this form of polyandry, which, ds I have
shown, stands on economical grotmds, there is, strange to
say, liberty for the women to choose yet another husband
from a diflerent family, a stranger. I have known cases
where there were two — and, if my recollection does not
deceive me, three — brothers, husbands to a woman, yet
she took a fourth husband from outside.

The effect of all this in keeping down the population of
the country is very great. Not only are fewer families
founded than would be otherwise, but the families are
smaller. In spite of the restricted area of cultivation^
which it would not be easy to extend, though possible in
a few cases, and in spite of there being no importation of
grain — except of a small quantity of rice, which is an
expensive luxury — the population of Ladakh, though fairly
well filled up, is not redundant. Each person has his own
position in connection with the land, and it would be
impossible to take many away without throwing some of
it out of cultivation.

SOME OF THEIR CUSTOMS. 265

It seems to me that such a balance \^ preserved in this
way : — The system of polyandry probably would have the
effect, if it were fully carried out, of absolutely lessening
the population. When it does positively act in that way,
when from that cause some holdings of land are, so to say,
going begging, then more of simply marriages take place.
An heiress of & few acres, say, gets a single husband whom
she brings home ; or an only son has a wife all to himself.
Then the natural increase of population recommences, and
the balance is redressed.

Among the curious customs of this country is one of
the father and mother of a grown-up family retiring from
active life and its responsibilities at a time when they
may not be much beyond middle-age. When the son is
married and has a child, then the time has come for the
grandfather and grandmother to leave their home, to giye
up the house and the land to their son. They go into a
very small house near, taking only one or two head of
cattle, and retaining just enough land for themselves to
attend to and raise grain from for their food. After this
is done they have no more claim on the son, who becomes
legal owner of the family property. There is often a
house attached to a holding which is put to this very use.
The amount of land to be given over is regulated by
custom ; this, on the death of the old people, comes back
to the estate. If there be two faiken alive they are both
got rid of and provided for in this way.

In the disposal of their dead the Bhots follow the
Hindd custom of burning. Bat whereas the Hindte
seldom or never let twenty-four hoon elapse between
death and cremation, these Bhots keep the corpse for

266 THE INHABITANTS OF LADAKH.

many days, feasting their friends round it ; the higher in
rank the deceased man was, the longer they keep him
from the dissolution of fire.

It would hardly be looked for that of these Shots a
considerable number should be able to read and write;
but it is the case that a far larger proportion than among
their neighbours — the Kashmiris for instence, to say
nothing of the Baltis and the Dards — have these acoom-
plishments. In almost every village there are men who
can write &eely and accurately. A predisposing cause
to this doubtless is the length of time, during the
winter, when agricultural work is stopped and occasion
for indoor pursuits arises. Probably the practice of one
son out of each family commonly being set apart to be-
come a Lama has distinctly aided the progress of this
elementary education.

This brings us to the consideration of the religious
organization of Ladakh. In nearly every village is a
monastery of greater or less importance ; it sometimes
holds but one or two Lamas or monks, sometimes it is the
home of hundreds. The monasteries are the most con-
spicuous buildings in the country ; they are always some-
what apart from the houses of the village ; they are often
situated in high places diflScult of access— on a spur of
the mountain or on an isolated rock, or they may lie in a
nook, under the shelter of a lofty diflf. At the entrance
of a monastery are fixed prayer-cylinders; sometimes a
courtyard is fitted with them on all sides. These are
cylinders with a vertical axis, turning on a pivot; they
are furnished inside with a paper on which holy names
are written ; the making of these to revolve is reckoned an

THEIR RELIGION. " 267

act of devotion. In the case of the larger, heavy, cylin-
ders, it is helped by rings being attached, which enable
the devotee to give a good impetus to his prayer.* Past
these one enters into the image-room ; this is generally a
fine lofty square chamber, the centre space of which is
supported by columns of wood. Here are kept the images
to be adored ; itnages of some of their gods, or of Buddha,
or of apotheosised Lam&s. These are sometimes in metal,
gilt, sometimes in clay gaudily painted. Often the artist
has been successful in giving an expression to the face
that well suits the character represented, as for instance
the ineffable calm — a calm that, were it less unmoved,
would almost express contempt for everything around —
on the countenance of Buddha, or S&kya Thubba as he is
called, the founder of the religion, whose devotion was
continual contemplation of, and whose ideal was ab-
sorption in, the divinity.

The room is furnished with numerous instruments of
worship; with bells and lamps, and sceptres and other
emblems, with bags of grain and with bowls of butter —
these last sustaining a wick which constantly bums. It is
hung with banners finely worked in curious devices, and
often the walls are adorned with paintings. The Lftmis
periodically assemble in the image-room to worship with
prayers and sacrifices, as of grain, and with mosio.
The people occasionally pass in and bow, and matter a

prayer before some of the images. No women, I under-

«

* Those prayer-cylinders are aometiniM kept in ecmtiDiial motkm bj
water-power. In a monastery in NubrA I saw ft eylisder, four feet in dia-
meter and 8ix feet in height, which was made to reftdve by a stream of
water flowing beneath the floor of the zoom against floats altaelied to a
continuation of its upright axle.

268 THE INHABITANTS OF lADaKH.

m

stood, not even nuns attached to the institution, enter the
image-room; they stand and worship at the doorway.
This is the more strange as the Lamas are not at all
jealous of strangers entering any part of the building,
which point of liberality surprises one after meeting with
so much exclusiveness in tliis respect as one does from the
diflferent religionists of India.

In any large family one of the boys was sure to become
a Lama. First, from an early age, the boy is made a
pupil at one of the monasteries ; from there he goes to
Lhasa to finish his studies and to be ordained. Latterly
boys have not taken so freely to the profession ; it seems
as if the life of mixed labour, study, meditation, and idle-
ness has less charms for the young than it used to have ;
or, may be, employment in secular walks is more easy to
get. When I was in Ladakh the chief Lamas were fearing
that the supply would fail.

In a monastery there are two head Lamas ; one the
leader in spiritual matters, the other the manager of its
temporal affairs. I had a great deal to do with the
chaffzot, as this latter dignitary is called, of several of the
larger monasteries. I found them to be men of genial
and amiable disposition, of refined and dignified manners.
Some of the chagzot had good business powers ; to certain
of thom was entrusted the administration of a small dis-
trict around their monasteries ; the duties of this office
most of them performed in such a way as both to satisfy
the authorities above them and to keep tBe people in
good heart. The dress of the Lamas is the woollen gown
or choga, dyed either red or yellow according to the sect
they belong to ; the red sect much predominates in
Ladakh. They shave their heads, and most of them go

MONASTERIES. 269

without a covering : those of higher rank wear hats of
various designs ; some have very wide-brimmed red hats
made of stiffened felt. Lamas very commonly carry in
their hands a small prayer-cylinder, constructed so as to
turn on its handle by the force given to a bullet attached
to it by a little chain ; the turning of this is equivalent
for them to saying one's prayers or telling one's beads.

Some of the monasteries are endowed ; some, I think,
get help from Lhasa ; but the greater part depend on the
alms given them by the villagers. At harvest time the
Lamas receive from the peasantry a goodly, though un-
fixed, portion of their produce. The monks, in their turn^
are always both free in their hospitality to travellers
and ready to identify themselves in interests with the
villagers.

Besides the monasteries, one is everywhere in Ladfikh
meeting with signs of the people's thought for their
religion. In a few places are to be seen colossal figures
carved in the rock, that represent some god« The sketch,
p. 270, is of one of these, over twenty-five feet high, which
stands for Chamba; this is to be seen in a valley near
Sankho, above Eargil ; it is deeply cut in a schistose rock.
But much more general are the long and thick buili-np
stone-heaps or walls, covered with thousands of flat stones
bearing a holy inscription. These (which are called
Maui) one sees at every village, and often abo by the
roadside where there is no habitation or other sign of
man. The path divides and goes on both sides the wall,
that the passenger may, going by, always keep it on his
right. Then by the larger villages, or in the neighbour-
hood of the more influential monasteries, one is sure to
find some edifices allied in chaiaoter to the one shown

270 THE INHABITANTS OF LADAKH.

noumi OF OHAWBA, cur or th« iqck ; hkar ilmHO,

SACRED BUILDINOa.

in the dmwing below. They are carefully constmcted
of brick, plastered over, and painted. This diawing

represents what is called a kdgdni ; it is plaoed at the
entrance to Tillages and to booMH^ the mj* being led
beneath it Others reaembling this in the upper part,

272 THE INHAmTANTS OF LADAKH.

have a monumental purpose; these are called Churten.
Another custom, A^hether connected or not with that of
raising such edifices as these, or whether of earlier origin,
I cannot say, is to build a cairn at the summit of every
mountain pass, and crown it with the horns of the wild
sheep, ibex, and other animals, a large collection of which
often adorns the heap, while a few boughs rise from the
centre, to which a flag is sometimes fastened, with, may
be, a holy word or text imprinted on it.

There are certain traits of manners in a people that a
traveller is very likely to miss altogether, that one only
occasionally — when some unusual events bring them to
view — has an op[)ortunity of observing. Such an event
was my own coming to Leh in 1871. I had visited the
place before, when examining into the mineral resources
of the country ; but that year I came to take up the
Governorship of Ladakh, to which the Maharaja had ap-
pointed me. Thus I was able to observe the way in which
these people receive those to whom they wish to do honour.

People of all classes turned out at every inhabited place
we came near. The villagers collect at the entrance of the
village, with the musicians in attendance playing on flage-
olet and tomtom. The women in their brightest petticoats
and gayest ornaments are drawn up in line, each holding a
vessel containing either barley-meal, or milk, or chang, or
some other thing to eat or to drink. But these offerings are
not intended to be taken as provision; they are not as the
ddlis in India, where a very substantial amount of eatables
is often given ; here they are tokens merely. Lastly, some
of the women carry eartlien vessels in which bum chips of

WELCOME AND FAREWELL. 273

peiieil-cediir, whose perfume is counted holy aod pure.
As one comes up. all place their ves'iels on the ground,
aird miike profound Dud not undignified bows. At each
villugu in .sueceiSsioQ that we pushed through, for some eii
ihivs'niiirrh, this was repealed. At one part of the journey,
lis we passed at a. di'>tance of a mile or two from a large
monastery, a deputation of Lamas came down to tha
ruad to fctiive me. Besides these, a band of eight red-
gijwned monks stood on a rocky spur above and gave a
loud welcome with their music. Two played on flageolets ;
tivo bore cymbals; other two had drums mounted on
standards and held up on high, where long curved iron
drum-sticks reached t> beat them ; and the last pair
phiA'ed on long horns, which, too heavy to be held in hand,
rested their curved ends on the ground. With this power
of sound tlie eiglit made wild music among the mouutaioa;
the horus droned in a way melancholy and touching, but
this strain was relieved by the clashing of the cymbals aud
the bold sound of the drums, while, through all, the
llagcolets brought out a more definite melody.

At Leh itself all the population came out either to
meet us or to see the crowd that met us. The hundreds
of Ladukhis — for numbers that are reckoned by hun-
dri'ds make an unusual concourse in these thinly-peopled
jiaits — tlie men of the numerous other races that collect
at Leh, the eagerness of all to see me, and their respect-
ful salutations of welcome, made, with the scene of the
strange-looking town, with its edging of green gardens
aTid corii-liflds, surrounded close by rocky hills, with lofty
mountains in the farther view around, in the brightness
imd freshness of a summer mom a scene which I recall

274 THE INHABITANTS OF LADAKH.

with pleasure — with pleasure more unmixed than that
which a like assemblage gave me on the later day when
with regret I said farewell to Leh, to the Ladakhts I had
for a time ruled over, and to the men I had worked
with — a lowering winter's day that not in vain threatened
snow — as they accompanied me for some miles down the
road on my first march towards home.

DISTRICTS OF LADAKH. 275

CHAPTER XVIII,

DISTRICTS OF LADIkH.

In this chapter will be described three valleys away from
the main Indus Valley, but drained by riyers that are
tributary to the Indus — the valleys of Dr&s, Zftnsk&r, and
Nubra. These, in addition to the valley of the Indas, are
the only parts of the country that contain any cultivated
spots and support a settled population by their cereal
produce; the description of the fiarther, higher, tracts^
where flocks and herds are tended by a nomad popula-
tion, will be reserved for the later chapters.

But it would be well, as an introducticm to the more
detailed account of both kinds of country, to give a short
sketch of the run of the mountain ranges and valleys of
Ladakh. And to fill this up, the reader who slKmld
wish for more detailed information may obtain it by a
close examination of the numbers marking peak and
valley heights on the map.

Commencing with the tiorth-east part of the map^ we
see, first, the high table-land of the Kuenlim Kains and
Lingzhtthang — these two separated by a range of billiy —
the whole being surrounded by mountainfl. The p1«««
are 16,000 and 17,000 feet high; the mountain ftliM«f
around them reach to 20,000 and 21,000 feet Those
which make the northern boundary are the Eastern
Kuenlun Mountains.

276 DISTRICTS OF LADAKff,

West of the high plateaus is a space occupied by a
great range of mouDtains, which is called both " Must&gh*'
and ** Karakoram." This is what intervenes between the
line of the Shayok Valley and the upper part of the
valley of the Yarkand River. It consists of great moun-
tain ridges, and of valleys which are never more than two
miles in width. In the eastern part the summits are of
the same level as those last spoken of — 20,000 and
21,000 feet; farther west they rise still higher; in the
ridge that separates the Upper Sh&yok (as it comes down
from the north) from the Nubra Eiver, are great peaks
25,000 feet high, rising out of a ridge of 20,000 or
21,000 feet; and amoug the mountains that lie to the
north-west of this are several summits of 25,000 and some
even of 26,000 feet. In this range originate many and
great glaciers.

As to the valley levels, the Snow Map will show the
lK)sition of the 15,000 feet level in the Changchenmo
Valley, and of that of 14,000 feet by Pangkong. From
these heights the descent along the Shayok is not re-
corded till we come to Nubra, v\here 10,000 feet is the
altitude of the valley bottom ; thence there is a gradual
fall to 9000 and 8000 feet, a little below which the
Shayok River meets the Indus.

Next is the space between the Shayok and Indus
valleys. The Indus Valley itself will be seen by the
figures on the Snow Map to have a fall closely corre-
sponding to that of the other. Between the two is that
great ridge of mountains which I have spoken of as
the Leh Range.

Then comes the wide tract between the Indus Valley

THE MOUNTAIN RANGES. 277

and the main watershed range. Here is a mass of moun-
tains whose ramifications are most complicated. As to
height, we find the conspicuons summits varying from
20,000 down to 18,000 feet. In the south-eastern part
are flat valleys at 15,000 feet; to the north-wei^t there
are a few wide openings at 10,000 or 11,000 feet, bnt on
the whole the valleys are narrow ; they fall, with various
degrees of slope, to the level of the Indus.

Last is the watershed range itself. This makes another
region of glaciers. Its summits for a long distance seem
to average 20,000 and 21,000 feet, and the Passes through
it are at very high levels. As we trace it north-westward,
we come to the Nunkun peaks, which are between 23,0C0
and 24,000 feet ; after that the heights gradually lessen,
and in this part occurs the Dras Pass, the lowest opening
through the Snowy Bange into Tibet.

Now let us enter on the more particular descriptioQ of
successive districts. Commencing with the Dnts Valley,
we find that the head of it is that Pass which we came to
the foot of in exploring one of the valleys of Kashmir.
The elevation of this passage through the mountains is
11,300 feet. An important characteristic of it is that
there is a great rise to this level from the Kashmir ride,
and but a very slight fall on the Lad&kh ride. The Pmb
itself— the high-level valley which is reached after the
steep ascent from Kashmir — ^is a level, grassy valley, not
much more than a quarter of a nule in width. The moun-
tains bounding it are rugged and rooky ; the ridges, of
which these are the ends, continuing back, reach to 5000
and 6000 feet above the road, or 16,000 and 17,000 feet
above the sea. These mountains belong to the very

278 DISTRICTS OF LADAKU.

central, snowy, range. By this Pass one rises at once
into the high-level country, where the yalley bottoms are
at levels from 10,000 feet upwards.

At Dras itself, the valley is an opening among the
hills, a space nearly flat, with a width of a mile and
a half or two miles, and a length of near three ; it is
not one flat, but consists of alluvial plateaus of different
levels. This space is bounded on the north by low,
irregular-shaped, spurs of hills, whose higher parts are
some miles back, but can often be seen jutting up in
rocky peaks or as a jagged ridge. The surface of these
hills is thoroughly bare of vegetation ; they show a
barren brown expanse of stone and rock — furrowed rock,
loosened stone, and talus of fallen masses ; on the south,
tower great precipices of limestone rock. The Dras River
enters the valley by a gorge, flows through it twenty-five
feet below the level of the lowest alluvial terrace, and
leaves by a similar narrow rock-passage.

To the traveller from Kashmir the contrast is great
between the look of the green-clothed, forest-clad hill-
sides of that country, and the arid, bare, and stony
mountains of Tibet. The feel of the air too is very dif-
ferent; here in Ladakh is a clear light-blue sky and
bright sun, with a brisk keen air ; it is more a climate
of extremes, in that the sun's rays are powerful, being
less weakened in traversing the smaller thickness of
atmosphere, so powerful as to heat quickly the rocky
ground exposed to them, while, from its rarity, the air
both receives less heat from the sun's rays, and in the
evening allows of a quick radiation from the day-heated

DBAS.

279

ground, so that cold nights suddenly succeed to days that
have been felt to be hot by those exposed to the sun.
As compared with tliis Ladakh country the air even of
the higher parts of Kashmir is soft and mild.

This Dras Valley, however, though generally bearing
out what has been said as to climate, has not the Tibetan
characteristics in the highest degree ; the gap of the Pass
allows some moisture-bearing air and even cloud-carrying
wind to come through ; here occur a greater number of
slight showers during the summer than in the other
valleys of Ladakh ; but this difference is slight as com-
pared with the great difference between the two sides
of the Pass, and is most chiefly shown in winter, when
the snow lies thicker in Dras than it does farther to the
east. The crossing of the Pass, from the last shelter on
the Kashmir side to Dras, a distance of thirty miles, is
generally done in two long days. Horses can traverse it
in summer time without diflBculty ; nor does the first fall
of snow (which may happen in the end of October or in
November) commonly shut the road for them ; but later
on, usually by some time in December, the snow has
become so thick that for horses to attempt the passage
is rash, and only men so hardy and persevering as some
of the tribes who live about Dras, especially those of
Dard race, or else those who get their aid, as I have done
— aid that well deserves acknowledgment and thankful-
ness — can hope to get over in safety. Thus — although
in the winter the Dras people, by watching their oppor-
tunity and waiting for some days when necessary, will
keep up communication between Kashmir and Ladakh,

280 DISTRICTS OF LADAKH.

and even carry merchandise over on their backs — the
road is not thoroughly open again, ponies cannot attempt
it, till the end of May.

From Dias to near Kargil the main road from Kashmir
still follows the valley of the same river. It continues
over stony ground, along the foot of great rocky moun-
tains.

Few villages are passed, and even those one goes near
are not always visible from the path, for some are
situated hundreds of feet above, on plateaus which are
the remains of denuded alluvial fans.

Below Tashgam we come into a granite country; the
mountains rise on both sides to a great height; not
often are their summits seen from the valley, but from
any vantage ground above we look on to serrated ridges
of 17,000 and 18,000 feet, the whole vertical height from
that level down to the river, which is at little more than
9000, being of bare, irregular, broken cliffs and their debris.
The sketch on the next page shows a view up a side
valley that penetrates into the mountain mass to one
of the lofty ridges; its whole sides are naked, but a
narrow strip of watered and cultivated ground lies in the
bottom.

The mountains, though at the first glance they show no
trace of herbage, yet do bear a little ; this is sought out
by the small herds of goats that are driven to the more
favourable places. Along part of this road two or three
kinds of bush occurred pretty plentifully; one is the
pencil-cedar (Juniperus excelm), which sometimes grows
low and sometimes taller and tree-like ; another is a bush
called by the people " umbd" (a Myricarta) ; then there

ORASITE MOUSTAINB,

282 DISTRICTS OF LADAKB.

were currant bushes and numbers of red-rose trees, each
tree being magnificently furnished with flowers ; this was
in the middle of June ; all these were on the lower slopes
among dry stones, flourishing where no grass would grow.

The Dras stream goes on north-north-westward to join
the Indus ; another day's march through similar country
would have brought us to that river, and this is a road
sometimes travelled on the way to Baltistan. But in our
route to Leh, leaving the stream, we turn round a comer
to the right, and take to and follow up the valley of the
Surd Biver (one of about equal volume with that from
Dras), passing here round a rock in which the road has
very imperfectly been cut, so that in places the roadway
has had to be constructed of poles lodged in projections of
the cliff; these are loosely covered with slabs. A few
miles after this, we come to the collection of villages
which bear the name of Kargil.

At Eargil is another of the wider openings between the
hills ; up to this spot the granitic hills had continued —
bare, rocky, and lofty ; but now on the east there appear
lower hills of a softer material, alternating beds of
clay and sandstone ; and between the Paskim stream and
the Surd Biver is an alluvial expanse of some square
miles, a succession of terraces of alluvial gravel. Those
plains are uncultivated ; hitherto the work necessary for
bringing the water of the Paskim stream on to the lower
wide terrace, though once or twice commenced, has not
been successfully accomplished ; but narrow strips not
very high above the two streams are watered by small
canals led from them.

The villages here are about 8900 feet above the sea ;

ZANSKAR. 283

partly from this altitude being lower than that of Drfis,
and partly from the place being less in the way of the
comparatively moist air that steals into this country
through the Dras Pass, there is both less snow in winter
and a greater force of sun and warmth in summer to help
on vegetation. Here wheat flourishes as well as barley ;
but the great difference to be observed was the growth of
many fruit-trees (chiefly mulberry and apricot), as well as
willows and poplars, along the watercourses that are led
over the terraced fields.

Thus we have come into country like that of the Indus
Valley as regards crops and cultivation, and the aspect of
the villages. The inhabitants, who, as the map shows, are
much mixed in the Dr&s Valley, are here completely
Balti.

The main road to Leh keeps an in-and-out course^ over
two easy Passes, and up and down the valleys of small
streams, enclosed alternately by gentle slopes and rugged
mountain sides. It leads us soon into the land of the
Shot. Shargol is the first place where a monastery of
Lamas is met with; before long L&m&yfir& is reached^
where stands a large one of note. In the nest march the
road joins (at Ehaisi) with the one by which we came up
from Skardd, there entering the valley of the Indus.

Zdnskdr is a district of Lad&kh which lies soutli-west of
Leb, towards the Watershed Bange ; its extent neaily
coincides with that of the basin of the large river, tributary
to the Indus, which is called after the name of the country.
Politically, it has always been in dose connection with
Leh ; it used to be governed by a Tibetan Baja, who was
dependent on the Gyalpo or ruler of that capital ; and in

284 DISTRICTS OF LABAKH,

race, speech, and character, the people of Zanskar do not
much differ from those of Ladakh.

Yet to approach Zanakar, from whatever side, is a mat-
ter of considerable diflBculty, for it is placed, as it were, in
a maze of mountains. To the south-west of it the wide
Snowy Kange makes a barrier, to cross which must be a
laborious and may be a dangerous business. From the
north-west and the south-east, indeed, roads lead in from
Sur<i and from Eupshu respectively, to traverse which is
less difficult, but these lead over long uninhabited tracts.
That way to which first one would look for communication
with Leh — by the valley of the Zanskar River — is quite
impassable, except when the winter's frost makes a road
over the waters of the river. Instead of this, in summer
time, the traveller from Leh has to make a long detour
by Laniayflru ; he has to traverse fifteen stages, in which
several Passes have to be surmounted, before Zanskar is
reached.

By far the greater part of the area of Zanskar is occu-
pied by the ridges and the ravines of mountains, either of
the Snowy Watershed Range, or of the more complicated
mass lying between that and the Indus Valley. The
inhabited region is nearly all included in the valleys of
two streams and of the river they make by their union.
These two streams come, one from the north-west, the
other from south-east ; uniting, they together flow away
to the north-east. At their junction is a wide open space,
which is the central part of Zanskar ; it includes in itself
the most important places. This space is a triangle, with
a base of seven miles, and a perpendicular of five ; on the
three sides it is bounded by bare mountains. But a very

A A

MOUNTAINS OF ZaNSKAR, 285

small proportion of this plain is cultivated ; the most of it
is an expanse of stony ground ; the rivers flow through it
somewhat below the general level ; where water from side
valleys has been brought on to the alluvial terraces and
fans, there only is land under cultivation.

On the north and east are bare brown mountains 6000
and 7000 feet above the valleys ; their surface is in part
of irregular cliffs, in part of slopes of loose stones, either
simply weathered off and remaining in the same place,
or else fallen and formed into taluses* Some of these
mountains are wonderfully clear examples of sub-aerial
or inland denudation ; their naked sides are scarred and
cut in lines which mark either temporary watercourses or
tlie path of falling snow and rock, while below lie the
heaps and the outspread fans, which are the next stages of
the debris in its seaward course. Great and striking
objects as are these mountains, the range on the south-
west shows over them a great preponderance of height;
it has a deeply-cut serrated ridge, a line of sharp peaks
rising well above the limit of perpetual snow.

In the open triangular space are many remains of
former extended glaciers. The position of Padam, the
cliief place, now but a village — but perhaps in former days
when a Raja ruled there deserving of a higher name — is
very curious. It is built on a mound of moraine matter.
The mound is about eighty feet high ; it is of loose, heaped-
up blocks of gneiss, blocks which look as if they had stayed
just as they fell from the glacier — the interstices vacant,
the whole mass seeming as if it might give way. On the
very summit of this heap was the palace of the Bajas, of
which some walls are still standing ; houses are built on

286 DISTRICTS OF LADAKK

the masses of stone all over the face of the mound. The
place is dilapidated ; ruin and decay are shown both in
the substance of the hill — the waste of mountains — and in
the human habitations that were built on it.

The climate of Zanskar is severe. The spring, sammer,
and autunm together last little more than five months,
after which snow falls, and at once winter closes in, con-
fining the people and the cattle within doors for the space
of half the year. A much greater depth of snow fedls
here than by Leh. In the spring it causes ayalanches
from the mountains to such an extent that in the Nunak
Valley the people cannot, till a month has passed, get
about from village to village for fear of them. To clear
the snow from the fields in time for the sowing requires
special contrivance. During summer and autumn the
people collect earth and store it in their houses in consi-
derable quantities. In the spring, when they deem the
time of snow-fall to be over, and the snow in the fields is
partly melted and has begun to cake with the sun's rays,
they spread the earth, which absorbs warmth from the
sun, and melts the snow in contact with it. Sometimes
snow falls afresh, and the labour is lost and has to be
repeated. In 1869 there were three or four layers or
earth and snow thus accumulated before the work was
done.

The villages of Zanskar are not so comfortable nor so
picturesque in look as those we have seen in other parts
of Ladakh. Trees are extremely rare ; the continuance
of snow and the force of the wind are much ^ against
their growth ; there are a few plantations of poplars grown
for the sake of timber, and lately the authorities have

A A

THE PEOPLE OF ZAN8KAB. 287

increased their Dnmber, but the trees produce nothing
more than slender poles.

The people have, as has before been implied, the
characteristics which were described under the head
'' Ladakhts." They haye, indeed, the best of these in a
higher degree than the rest of the Lad&khts. The Z&ns-
kar!s are the old-fashioned ones among them, retaining
their simplicity of manners and their honesty without
stain. The language has a slight dialectic difference from
that of Leh ; even in the various parts of Z&nsk&r recog-
nisable differences exist ; but none of these seemed — as
far as I could gather — ^to be of great importance.

The number of inhabitants is very small. I have a list
of forty-three villages, which may contain ten or twelve
houses each ; the total may be five hundred houses and
2500 souls. There is a trade, small in amonnti but still
important to the Z&nsk&rts, which is carried on by three
or four route& First, the people of Bupshu bring salt^
and take barley in exchange. Secondly, some of the salt
brought by the last-mentioned route goes to Ftdar and
Pangt (by very difiicult Passes over the Snowy Bange)^
and is there exchanged for rioe, butter, and honey, and for
skins. Thirdly, other of the salt acquired from Bapsho
goes to Surft, whence comes in exchange pattA (wocdlea
cloth), barley, and a little cash* The chief profit seems to
lie in the trade for salt ; by acting both as carriers and
merchants of this they increase its value enough to pro-
vide themselves with the luxuries that must come from
outside. A fourth line of traflfo is with Lthol, whence
traders come with cash alone, and buy poniei, donkeys
sheep, and goats. It is only by this bnnch of timde that

288 DISTRICTS OF LADAKH.

cash enough is iutroduced into the country to pay the
Government tax, which is 200Z. for the whole district.
Nearly all the rest is done by barter : for instance, 7 lbs,
or 8 lbs. of salt exchange in Zanskar for 1 lb. of butter ;
in l^angi 3 lbs. or 4 lbs. only of salt would be given.
Again, in Zanskar the proportion in value of salt to that
of barley is such that 2 lbs. of salt exchange for 3 Ibe. of
barley.

Let our next visit be to the district of Nubrd, on the
opposite side of Leh. This is separated from the valley
of the Indus by the great ridge of mountains, the Leh
Range, which divides the Indus and Shayok valleys. Of
the summit of thif^, 19,000 and 20,000 feet is commonly
the height, and the line is but little broken through ;
only down to 17,000 feet do gaps here and there exist
which allow of communication.

In going from Leh to Nubra (which lies along the
banks of the Sliayok Kiver and of a tributary to it) we
must of necessity cross the Leh Range by one of two or
three Passes. From Leh a direct road leads up along the
stream whose waters irrigate the lands about that town.
The Pass to make for is the Khardong Pass, which is
17,500 feet high ; there is, therefore, an ascent to be made
of 6000 feet. Not easily can this be done in one day ; a
half-way halt is almost always made, either at the last
hamlet or farther up in the uninhabited part of the valley.
The path is in places difficult for laden ponies ; they are
generally relieved of their loads and are replaced for the
Pass by yaks. The way leads for some miles up the
l)ottom of the valley, rising at an angle of 5° ; then it
continues in a branch valley of steeper gradient, till it

THB WAT TO NUBS A. 289

reaches the watershed, which at thia spot is a narrow
rocky ridga

A better idea of the form of the monntaia range we are
now going over than can be given in
words, will be got from the annexed sec-
tion of it, made throngh a spot a little
to the west of the road. The broken line
represents where the path itself goes.

On the north of the path, the road
crosses a bed of ice which lies on the
slope, and leads down a steep descent of
some 1600 feet, to a small lake enclosed
by a stony barrier which looked as if it
might have been formed by avalanches.
Thence an easy but long descent leads
us for many miles down a valley between
spurs from the main tidge. Seveml more
little lakes are passed at diflerest levels
which all seem to have been caused by
either fans or avalanches damming the
waters ; there are, too, old morune moonds
spread over a laige space of groand.

As we still descend we oome to some
grazing grounds in the valley bottom;
then to some outlying hamlets, and then
to a large village which is named Khar-
dong. This place is <mi the renudning
part of an alluvial plateau that has
been much denuded. It is bounded in one diroetion
by cliSa several hundred feet high, composed of allaviil
mnttor. The onward pat^ leads down to the stream at

U !

290 DISTRICTS OF LADAKH.

the foot of these cliffs, and continues along the bottom^
where — rare sight for Ladakh — is a strip of brushwood
jungle. From this narrow passage we debouch into the
larger valley of the Shayok River, Crossing that river
by a ford (if the season be favourable) we then keep along
its right bank for the length of a day's march, till we
reach the centre of the district of Nubra.

This district consists of the valley of , the Nubra River —
which flows from the north-north-west — and of a portion
of the valley of the Shayok River, with which it unites.
There are the wide alluvial flats of the two streams, and
the lofty mountains bounding them, with ravines, seldom
habitable, that lead down from the heart of those
mountains.

At the junction of the rivers the valley of the Shayok
is some four miles wide ; that of the Nubra River is from
two to three. The flat is in part sandy and shingly, in
part occupied by jungle-patches of a low growth of
tamarisk and myricaria, or umb&. The line at the edge
of the plsdn is sharply drawn ; the mountains rise from it
suddenly in rocky masses, and they rise to a great height.
Sometimes one sees only the ends of spurs, but even these
may tower above one with 7000 or 8000 feet of bare rock ;
sometimes the eye reaches to lofty yet massive peaks,
naked or snow-covered, of much greater height, with
great spurs and buttresses coming forward from beneath
them. The stupendous size and the suddenness of the
mountains give a character of grandeur to the scenery of
this district.

On looking at the two valleys which make the habitable

NUBSA. 291

part of it, I find a cheerfulnesB in the general aspect of
N'abii beyond that of the reel of Lad&kh. This perhaps
may be put down to the fact of the valley being so open
that the eye reaches from village to village, and is aUe at
the same time to overlook several grerat expanses of low
jungle and of pasture. But it must not be thought that
the cultivation bean any la^e proportion to the whole
area. The villages occar each at the month of a ravine,
OQ the undenuded fan that projects &om it; still it ia
only a small part of the surface of the fan that is tilled ;
much of the groand is impracticable for the plough
on account of the masses of rock that have been strewn
over the surface by the stream-floods. The space occa-
pied by the village is green and pretty. Groups of frait-
trees and many poplars and willows flonriBh,and there are
generally some one or two buildings of a better ohaniotor
than the ordinary peasants cottage, as » monastery and
a village headman's house, which brighten np the place.

For equal altitudes, the climate of Kubrft is nearly tbe
same as that near Leh, except that probably the winter
snowfall IB, as regards the valley, somewhat less. Between
each fall of snow so much of it disappears by evaporatkm
and by the wind 4rifting it, that, throughout tbe winter,
the cattle, sheep, and goats are able to grase in the low
pasture grounds ; only at night are they taken in nndei
cover. Some of the villages have mountain pastores,
to which the flocks are driven in snmmer time ; but
the climate is so dry that these aflord hut very scanty
pasturage.

Cliardio, on the right bank of the lful»6 Biver^ is

292 DI8TBICT8 OF LADAKH.

about the most conspicuous village in the district.* At
one time it was also the most important^ for here lived
the hereditary rulers of Nubr&, who ruled under the
Gyalpo or Baja of Ladakh. The houses of Charasa are
built on an isolated steep-faced rock, which stands up
away from the mountain side ; it is some 200 yards long
and 150 feet high. All the upper part of it is covered
with white buildings ; the loftiest of them is the monas-
tery ; they were formerly defended by a wall, of which
parts still remain, running along the rock at varying
levels, and flanked by towers. With the exception of the
Lamas, the people of the village live on the rock in winter
only ; for summer they have other dwellings, scattered
about their fields, but in winter they come for warmth
to their old fortress. Here the buildings are crowded so
close together, the space occupied is so completely roofed
over, pathways and all, that, when filled with human
beings and with cattle, it must indeed be warm.

A great part of the rock on which Charasa is built
is rounded, smoothed, and even polished. It is a roehe
moutonnSe, On the smoothed surface there are in several
places very distinct grooves or scratches, which meet
clearly denote the movement over it of a glacier. The
grooves are to be seen close down to the level of the
alluvium, and up for more than one hundred feet above it.
The very summit cannot be examined on account of the
buildings ; but I have no doubt that the ice of the glacier
completely covered it and extended to an enormous thick-
ness above, and at the same time occupied the whole width

* The position of this place is near where the B ^^ NUBRA comet
ill the map.

OLD 0LA0ISB8. 298

of the valley, s width, vhidi both here aod for some
distaoce up, is sboDt two and a half miles.

This is by no means the only instance of ice-marks in
the valley. Many other prelecting rocks and some of the
hill-sides show a polished and striated surface; and I have
found evidence (in the presence of travelled blocks on the
summit of the ridge behind Gbar&sa) that a glacier once
fill^ the valley to a depth of 4000 or 4500 feet It will
be understood that with this enormous thiokness the
glacier conid not have ended off at Charfisa; it most have
reached to the Shayok Valley, and there probably joined
with other ice-masses, and it may have extended far
away down.

From every point on tiie ascent of this ridge, bat
especially from the summit, I obtained commanding views
of the plain beneath and of the mountains oj^nsite ; theie
views gave so much more oomplete an idea of the form of
the ground that could be got from bebw, that it is wwth
while to dwell a little on what is seen from that height.

We look down on the river flowing in an extraordinary
number of channels, meeting and separating again, so as
to divide the bed into hondreds of onrve-bonnded pointed
islands, in form like the lights in a flamboyant window ;
a spread of brushwood jungle shows where the wandering
stream has for some years not reached. Beyond this
alluvial flat of the Nabrfi Iti?er are the &nB at the month
of each ravine ; the completeness of the fiuL'^hape of
their outline is beautifully shown in this almost bird's^e
view. Looking to the opposite mountains, we see Uie
peaks of the central ridge between the Nubii and Upper
Shayok Valleys, monotaina whioh aie not visiUe fnnn

DISTBICTS OF LA DAK ff.

LOFTY PEAKS. 295

below. There is a sharp serrated ridge of a height of
about 20,000 feet From out of this rise peaks which the
trigonometrical surveyors hare found to be from 24,600
to 25,180 feet high. They are grand masses of rock
standing up bold and clear. Each mountain is an irre-
gular mass 5000 feet higher than the lofty continuous
ridge. Snow clothes their summits, and. lies in thick
beds on some of their slopes ; while other parts %re rocky
precipices, too steep for it to remain on. The sketch
gives the outline of the peak-masses with some exactness.
It does not reach to the foot of the mountains in the
valley, as the eye does from some points of view; when it
does so, there is in sight, in a distance of eighteen milesy
a vertical height of 15,000 feet

296 THE HIGH VALLEYS OF LADAkK

CHAPTER XIX.

THE HIGH VALLEYS OF LADIkH.

We now will go to that lofty part of Ladakh where the
lowest ground touched is as much as 13,500 feet above
the sea^ and where there are long flat valleys at 15,000
feet; while the mountains that faiclude these have a
height of 20,000 and 21,000 feet

The first that shall be described of these high tracts is
that called Bupshu or Bukshu. It is a district at the
south-east end of Ladakh, lying between the Watershed
Range and the Indus. From the side of Leh it is
approached by leaving the Indus at Upsht (two marches
up) and following the narrow ravine which there joins in
from the south. After thirteen or fourteen miles we come
to Gya, the last village in this direction, a place elevated
13,500 feet above the sea. It is a village of some forty
houses, with a proportionately wide area of cultivation ;
it is one of the most, but not quite the most, elevated of
all the villages in the country. At this place we leave
houses behind, for at the next inhabited parts we shall
come to, tents are the only dwellings.

But to reach those parts we have to cross the Toglung
Pass, of 17,500 feet elevation, which we approach by con-
tinuing up the same valley for some fourteen miles more.
From its summit we obtain a view which gives us some
insight into Bupshu. There is a pretty steep slope

BUPBHV. 297

beneath hb of ne&r^lSOO feet, and then a flat valley
extending long to the south-east and widening, thus
showing ua far off, eighteen miles distant, the bine waten
of one of the lakes which we shall visit — the Salt I^e.
The flat bottom of the valley is bounded by smooth
naked hilla. It is sach valleys as this, varying from s
mile to (rarely) six miles in width, and enclosed by
mountains rising sometimes 2000 feet, and sometimes as
much aa 5000 feet, above them, tiiat make what are called
the uplands, or sometimes the table-lands, of Bupsho.

With an elevation of 14,000 and 15,000 feet for the
valleys, the climate of Bnpdkn is necessarily extremely
severe in point of temperature ; it is, at the same time, of
an extreme dryness. The character of its summer climate
is wannth of sun and constant coolness of the air. At
midday the sun's rays are exceedingly powerful ; on its
decline one experiences cold, which is intensified by the
bitiog wind that commonly springs up in the afternoon.
At night, even in the height of summer, except when the
sky may be overcast, water freezes ; in the banning of
August I have seen ice caking the pools. The snow limit
is about 20,000 feet ; this great height of it is doe to the
dryness of the aii, to the small amount of SDOW&ll of eMlh
year, an amount so small that below that level it all be-
comes melted during summer. Mountains that rise abore
20,000 feet originate glaciers ; there are small ones in the
hollows of several sach peaks, bat there is no great snowy
area. The soriace of the hills is cbiefly disint^rated
rock, and the surface of the valleys is earth or gravel.
V^etation is extremely scant ; here and there is some
grass by a spring, or along the m o istened banlc of *

298 THE HIGH VALLET8 OF LADAKE.

stream, and on some hill-sides is a thin herbage. It is
this herbage that is the support of the flocks and herds
which sustain the small population of Bupshu.

In the whole area of the district, which is about 4000
square miles in extent, there are but 500 souls.* These,
as will have been understood, are Ghampas ; they are
dwellers in tents, or, as the Persian phrase has it,
'' wearers of tents." t This small tribe, the Bupshu
Ghampas, have about 100 tents, one to a famQy ; they
are divided into two camps, which separate in summert
and frequent distinct pastures, but reunite in winter.
They make about four moves during the year, with^ I
think, much regularity, though the time of these must
vary if the season be unusually late or early ; thus their
stay at each encamping ground is nearly three months on
the average.

The tents are of a black hair-cloth, made from either
yaks' or goats* hair. They are of a peculiar form ; they
are constructed in two pieces, which are not closely united,
but put together so as to leave an opening of six inches
all along the top ; this allows the exit of smoke, while the
Ml of rain or snow is so small as to cause little incon-
venience, or the space may be temporarily covered with a
piece of carpeting. The space within the tents is enlarged
by the hair-cloth being pulled out here and there by extra
ropes, which are led over a forked stick and then pegged
down. The tent is ornamented with little flags and with

* These people practice polyandry aa the Lad&khis do ; to this we must
directly attribate their small nambers. The necessity felt for polyandry
arose from the number of sheep, goats, &c., being limited by tiie winter
feed.

t Khima-posh,

FLOCKS AND EERD8 OF BUP8HU. 299

yaks' tails fastened to the poles. I have no measarement^
but from memory should say that the tents are about
14 feet long, 10 feet wide, and nearly 6 feet high ; in one
of these lives a whole f})mily.

The sheep and goats are very numerous. At evening
time one sees the flocks and the herds coming down the
hill-side and collecting at the encampment by hundreds,
and even thousands. The sheep is of a large kind ; it is
here made use of for carrying loads ; the salt from the lake
is carried out of, and grain is brought into, the country
on the backs of sheep; a small pack or double bag is
made to hang over the back, filled to an average weight
of 24 lbs.; the stronger animals will be loaded up to
32 lbs. The larger of the two kinds of goat kept here is
made use of in just the same way. The more usual kind is
the shawl-wool goat, a small long-haired species ; the kids
of this sort are beautiful little animal& The wool that
goes to make the soft fabrics of Kashmir is an under*
growth at the root of the long hair of these smaller
goats. It comes in winter time, not only to the goats but
to the yaks, dogs, and other animals, domestic and wild
both, as a protection against the severe ookL At the
beginning of summer the wool grows out or loosens; it is
then combed out from the goats and sent to Leh, where it
is picked free from hairs and either worked up or sent on
to Kashmir. It must not be supposed that the greater
part of the shawl-wool used in Kashmir comes from
Kupshu ; the greater quantity and that of better quality
comes either from the Chinese districts beyond the
boundary of Lad&kh, or from the country of the Amir
of Kashgar.

300 THE HIGH VALLEYS OF LADAKH.

The homed cattle are all of the yak species. In
BnpshUy as far as I know, there is neither the cow nor
any of the hybrids of yak and cow. The yak is a half-
wild, not easily tractable, beast ; his numbers are not yery
large in Bupshn; there may be 400 or 500 head. The
yak's duty is that of a load carrier. The Bupshu people
do not carry loads on their backs like the Ladakhts, they
depend entirely on their cattle, on their sheep and goats
for merchandise that is easily divisible, on their yaks for
that of larger bulk.

In this way the Bupshu people are great carriers.
Between Central Ladakh on the one hand and G&r in
Chinese Tibet or Lahol in the British country on the
other, they are kept well employed in helping forward
merchants' goods. For this service they get good pay-
ment ; sometimes it is in cash, sometimes in grain ; with
one or two slight exceptions, all the farinaceous food they
consume is imported, Eulu and Lahol supplying the
greater part of it.

The intermediate position of Bupshu is such that many
travelling merchants come through the country. The tea-
merchants of Lhasa — ^a shrewd and eager set of men —
yearly come this way with their venture of brick tea for
Leh ; their merchandise is carried free by the Bupshu
people, according to an old arrangement between the
authorities of Lhasa and Leh, but for their riding and
light baggage they have with them a number of fine
mules of rare pace. Fi*om Kunawar in the Sutlej Valley
come the Kunds, a people of mixed Tibetacn and Indian
breed ; from Lahol and Kuld come others of pure and of
mixed Tibetan blood ; these have in many cases their own

A Ak

HARDINESS OF THE OHAMPAS. 301

sheep to carry their merchandise. Of late years there
has been a greater through traffic from the Fanjab to Leh,
and even Yarkand, by the road that goes through Bupshu.
Panjabi, Pathan, and Yarkandt merchants hare all passed
this way, which, indeed, as far as the road is ooncemedy is
now the best by far between Eastern Turkist&n and the
Panjab. The objection to the route is that the Pass over
the Snowy Bange may close before the circumstances of
the trade allow the merchant to get away from Leh for
the downward journey.

Although, then, Bupshu possesses so inhospitable a
climate, though it is at one and the same time both
parched and bleak, though its hills are barren and its
valleys desolate, yet a busy life exists at times in certain
portions of it. After travelling for some days without
seeing a trace of man, one may come on an encampment
of traders with some hundreds of sheep to cany their
merchandise, their loads carefdlly piled up and protected
by white tent-cloths ; or one may meet on the road the
merchants on their ponies, jingling with bells, accom-
panying their heavy-laden and somewhat unmanageable
flock.

For people who are natives of temperate dimes, the air
of Bupshu in summer, though somewhat trying, is not too
severe when the constitution is stroDg and the system in
good order. The extreme cold of winter also could pro-
bably be endured if one had the appliances one is used to
where it is much less intense. But the Ch&mp&s weather
it in their tents. The hardiness of these people^ the way
in which they enjoy rathe rthan endure their climate^
is an instance somewhat remarkable of the power of

302 THE EIQH VALLEYS OF LADAKE,

adaptation that the human race possesses. These men
consider Leh as a place that should only be approached
in winter, and Kashmir as a country hot and unhealthy,
much in the same way as we, on better grounds, look on
the Gold Coast.

There is one characteristic of Bupshu that is always
making itself felt by those who are used to dwell at lower
altitudes. This is the rarity of the air.

In the valleys water boils at about the temperature of
187°, which corresponds to a barometer-height of 17 '8
inches ; hence the amount of air — and of oxygen — ^taken
into the lungs with an ordinary inhalation is only ^^ths
of what would enter them were one at the level of the sea.
How this is compensated in the case of the Champas I do
not know for certain ; I think, for one thing, that there is
less waste of tissue in their bodies, as compared with those
living in lower and warmer regions ; they do not use such
an amount of muscular exertion as the people of some of
the neighbouring countries; walking it is true they are
good at, but they are not always practising it, and loads
they will not carry. The tending of flocks and herds is
not an occupation that brings the muscles into powerful
use. Still this will not account for all; there must be
some compensating habit which enables them to take in a
large volume of the thin air ; probably they have an un-
conscious way of inhaling deeply.

With us the system tries in the simplest and most
direct way to make up its wonted supply of oxygen ; the
breathing becomes both quicker and more powerful, that
is to say there is an efibrt to increase both the number of
inhalations and the volume of each. At first> doubtless,'

SARITT OF TEE AIR. 303

there is an increase insufficient to produce a consciousness
of change ; but when once the effect is felt, it is intensi-
fied with every rise in altitude. At the greater heights,
besides the feeling of oppression and shortness of breath,
there comes on a hea^he and feeling of sickness such
as one often has at the beginning of feyer or sea-sickness,
but this is not accompanied by either increased heat or
cold of the body. With some, at the higher leyeb,
Yomiting comes on, but serious results do not seem to
follow, and relief is felt almost at once on descending to
a lower level,*

The height at which these effects are observed yaries
much, and it is not always ea^ to trace the cause of the
irregularities. A great deal depends on habit of body ; a
man in good condition will hold out to a greater height
than one who is unused to exercise. One first notices it
when using some more than ordinary exertion, as when
running or when walking up hill ; in this way, fdr people
who live below 6000 feet, the effects generally come on
between 11,000 and 12,000 feet At 14,000 and 15,000 feet
one is liable, at times, to have an attack, as it were, of
shoi-tness of breath even when in repose. When I first
visited Bupshu (15,000 feet), this came upon me when
lying down at night and lasted for half an hour or so ;
but after a week I got over that liability, and never
afterwards, when at rest, felt a want of breath, even
when the camp was 2000 or 8000 feet higher stilL

* This is only true if the organs are tboioag^y eoand ; the nritj is
very likely to find out any defect in either the lunga or the heart.
Dr. Beltew speaks highly of the good efieefc of potaoiiim chkxmte (a
compound that contains oxygen easily parted with) as a medieiiie t» tha

sickness.

304 THE HIGH VALLEYS OF LADAKU.

Again, I haye known a native of the Panj&b — one it is
true little used to physical exertion — have a like attack
at 1 1,000 feet.

But though one may get so far used to the rarity of the
air as not to feel it thus, yet any but the most ordinary
exertion will surely remind one of it. At 15,000 feet the
least slope upward in the path will make one as much out.
of breath as if one were, at a lower altitude, pressing up
a steep mountain side. Talking, when walking, eyen on a
level, soon brings its own conclusion from want of breath.
And when one comes to the greater heights — for here
every thousand feet distinctly tells — ascending a slope
becomes a painful labour. I have crossed a Pass at
19,500 feet (one that lower down would have been an easy
walk) where, on the ascent, at every fifty or sixty steps,
one was absolutely obliged to halt and pant to reeoyer
breath ; then, however, I felt neither headache nor other
bad effect ; the usage of a month or two at high levels had
done something to harden one to the circumstances.

The natives whose lot occasionally leads them into the
highlands, very commonly attribute these results of rare-
fied air to some plant, which, for the purposes of their
argument, they invest with the power of poisoning the
air. Some of the herbs at high elevations give out a smell
when rubbed, and these are brought in to account for the
sickness. The much-abused onion, which grows wild in
some parts at a good height up, often has these things laid
to it. Of course an easy answer to this hypothesis is that
the efiect is greatest at those heights whence all these
plants, and even all vegetation, are absent

The Salt Lake Valley is the widest opening in the

SALT LAKE VALLSY. 305

whole of BupBlia ; the length, in a directioii north-north-
west and south-south-east, is thirteen miles, and along a
considerable part of that length the Talley is five mileti
wide ; the level of it is 14,900 feet It is a flat snrroanded
by hills, occupied partly by land and partly by water.
The hills are for the most part low in comparison with the
moantains we have met with, all are bare of risible r^e-
tation ; as a rule they are not nigged, tmt have smooth
surfaces of loosened stones. The sor&ce of the plain is
varied ; in parts there is sand and gravel ; in other parts
an expanse of white clay ; this again is KHnetimes caked
with a thin coTering, still whiter, of salte^ Tarioos in oom>
position ; lastly, a not incoosiderable portku is oocnpied
by two lakes — one of fresh water, aboat a sqaare mile in
extent, and the Salt Lake, seven square miles. Tiae
lake originated first in a damming ti the water, and
then in a chaDge of climate, that diminished the aiip>
ply, BO that it woold no longer overflow the dam. It
has now become shallow, and the salts are concentrated.
At the eastern end I have heard that there is aboot
thirty feet of water, in other parts I have not found more
than six feet, while over a great space towarda the
western end there was hot ime fbot of water. By the
northern shore of the lake- is a series of small lagoons
separated from the main water by a bank of ebingle and
clay. Here the water, drying, deposits common sal^ not
iu<teed pure, bat nearly enough so for it to be naed tn
food. The salt is removed from this place by the Cbim-
[itia, and fresh salt forma ; the deposit is best and most
plentiful when a good dry season suoceeds the inow>
melting. I saw fonr soch pools separated ftcon the lake

306 THE HIGH VALLEYS OF LABAKH.

and from each other. The water must ooze into them
either from underneath or through the bar. As far as I
know it is only in this part that common salt is deposited ;
the different salts in solution are thrown down in different
partSy according to the degree of concentration ; this last
must depend on the shallowness and on currents; thede
again may be caused by the wind, which is apt to be
regular at certain times of the day. The salt thus ob-
tained has an admixture of magnesian salts ; it is bitter to
the taste, and is not liked by those who have been used to
the pure salt of the Salt Bange of the Panjab ; it is indeed
apt to produce an irritation of the skin. Still it is con-
sumed all over Ladakh, and is carried as far as Kashmir.

From the south-east comer of the Salt Lake plain,
there leads a valley, which, followed up, brings one to an
easy Pass, by name Folokonka, about 16,500 feet high, and
beyond that one comes into the valley of Piiga, this, fol-
lowed down, brings us in a few miles to the Indus River
which here flows in a wide smooth stream, between
banks of alluvial gravel, with a depth that makes it just
fordable ; the hills rise, in some parts smooth and with a
gentle slope, in others bold and steep, on both sides reach-
ing, within a few miles, to a height of 5000 feet above the
river. From Maiya, the point where we touched the river,
I marched for four days up the valley, to the place marked
Dora ; what was seen in the fifty miles then passed over
may be described in the same order as it was met with.

From Maiya the way lies along the left bank over
ground stony and sandy, but with a little grass here and
there. The Indus was flowing by in a gentle stream, with
a speed that seemed between 1^ and 2^ miles an hour ;

THE HIQnEST VILLAGES. 807

the alluvial flat it flowed through widened to a breadth of
perhaps three-quarters of a mile, this being confined either
by the spurs of the hills or by higher alluyial deposits, as
of the fans of side streams. As is usual, one could not well
see the hills on tlie side one was passing along ; the hills
on the north were a series of irregular spurs connected
with the great range which is a continuation of that
behind Leh ; they were made of stratified rock — shale and
sandstone * — sometimes showing the outcrop of beds,
sometimes only a surface of earth and loose stoneSy of
various tints of brown, grey, and purple, all, to the eye,
perfectly bare of yegetation.

Now after passing oyer several miles of these stony
tracts we come to where there are two or three small
yillages, which are the highest in the Indus Valley. T\m
bit of the yalley is properly out of Bnpshu, still it is tra-
versed by the Champas in going from one part of their
district to another. The yillages are three. On the left
bank is Nidar, in a rayine that comes down from the
south ; it has three houses only. On the right bank are
Nimu, of twelye houses, and Mad, of ten. Nimft is abont
14,U0O feet aboye the sea ; it shows a tract of brihgt greeu
at the edge of a great stony expanse ; naked barley and
peas are sown here, but only the former ripens. Of trees
there are a few large willows of great age. I have two or'
three times noticed that in the yillages near the upper
limit of trees, where few grow, there are some of more
than usual size ; this probably is from moro respect being
paid to, more care taken o^ them ; there is also a newly-
made plantation of willows. At Nimii little snow &118,

* Farther babk, towards its oeatre, this range Is dT gnaite.

308 THE HIGH VALLEYS OF LADAKH.

and what comes does not stay long on the plain ; in
winter the cattle and the flocks graze on the plain by the
river, but are brought under cover at night. The people
of Nimu are not Ghampas, but are nearer the Ladakhls
both in look and language ; they are, however, to some
extent nomadic, since some of them take their flocks to
other pastures in winter and live in tents while tending
them.

Leaving these last villages we follow up the valley of
the Indus. It has widened to a plain, some four miles
across, sandy at the outer portions, but covered with pas-
ture about where the river flows through it. Then the
valley narrows, where it takes a great bend, here cutting
through the prolongation of the Leh range of mountains.
At the second bend we find ourselves (where Alluvial
Plain is marked on the map) on a flat of an average width
of two miles, that stretches far to the south-east. Near
where flows the river is a thin growth of grass, which
makes this plain by far the most important pasture
ground in Bupshu. Farther from the water the flat is
sandy, dotted, in places, with clumps of Tibetan furze. The
plain is so even as well as so straight that the horizon of
the curvature of the earth can be distinctly seen in both
directions, hiding the bases of the distant hilla

The mountains, which on both sides bound the valley,
rise, uncapped by snow, to 19,000 and 20,000 feet ; that
is to say, they are about 6000 feet above the flat

I went about twenty miles farther, south-eastwards up
the valley, along the alluvial plain between the mountains.
After that, as I could sec, the space between the moun-
tains narrowed; in the line of the valley there seemed

WINTER QUARTERS OF THE CHAMPA8. 309

to be an opening like a gateway; it is through this
that the road goes into the Chinese territory; the river
is deflected to the north-east, flowing in a narrow space,
but, after another twenty miles up, the two yalleys or
hollows reunite.

' Our farthest camp was at a place called Dora. This
is where the Ghamp&s of Bnpshu spend the winter.
Here are built some low-walled spaces for sheltering
cattle at night ; there were many small hollows dog two
feet deep in the ground with a coarse or two of sun-dried
brick above, in which the tents are pitched ; at one end
is a rude house built for the headman — ^low walls washed
over with a glittering micaceous mud and roofed in with
sticks covered with turfl When I was there, in August,
there was not a soul in the settlement. At Dora hardly
any snow falls. This is why the place is dioeen for
winter quarters, the sheep and the cattle being thus able
to graze on the extensive though thin pasture found on
the flat.

It is natural that the more faTourable dteumstanoea
of this part of the Indus Valley should encourage animal
life to a greater extent than is common in Bupshu. I
saw here some small herds of the Tibetan antelope^ and
the Tibetan hare is common here, as well as lower down
towards NimA and again towards Ghushal ; it is a laige
hare, with much white, the back of a brownish grey
But the animal one sees most <^ in these parts is the
Kyang or wild ass — wild horse it has sometimes been
called — an animal which is met with singly or in twos
and threes in many parts of Bupshu (as, for instance,
the Salt Lake plain), but here is in £sr greater number

310 THE niQH VALLEYS OF LADAKH.

than anywhere else. In a day's march I saw some 300
kyang, as many as 100 at one view. There were several
different herds ; they all let us come to about 250 yards
from them and then trotted off, or if frightened by noise
galloped away, often leaving the low ground and taking to
the stony slopes. This animal is decidedly nearer the ass
than the horse, but in outward appearance is much more
like a mule than either. He is like a good mule, such as
one gets in the upper part of the Punjab, about B&wal
Pindi.* The colour is brown, but white under the belly ;
there is a dark stripe down the back, but no cross on the
shoulder. Of a full-grown male, a fine handsome animal,
that I shot in order to make closer observations, the
following are some measurements :

Height 54inche8(13hand8 2Ui.).

Length of head (from point of muzzle

to root of ear) 21 J

Length of ear 9 J

Fore lioof, length 5

„ width 4

Hind hoof, Ungth 4f

„ width 3J

On getting as near as we could to one of the herds and
dispersing it, we separated and at last with some diffi-
culty caught a colt of fifteen days or a little more. He
was 35 inches high, his head was 13 inches long, his ear
6 inches; his coat was thick but soft, the mane short
and curly, the tail short and bushy. . His voice, as well
as the voice of full-grown ones that we got pretty near
to, was almost exactly like that of a mule — a subdued

* Trcbeck. Moorcroft*s companion, wrote that the kyang is neither
horse nor ass, that his shape is as much like one as the other.

THE WILD ASS. 311

grunt or abortive bray. This little fellow soon lost his
shyDess and would let anyone come near him without
fear ; we tried hard to rear him, but he died in two or
three days. Several attempts have been made to tame
the kyang, but little success has attended them. I have
eaten the flesh of kyang in the form of steak, and found
it very like bee&teak, but rather coarser; the Ch&mp&s
are glad to eat it when they get a chance.

Turning back from Dora, and travelling north-west-
wards for two or three days, we reach one of the two great
lakes of Ladakh. Tsomortrl lies to the south; the one
we have come to is Pangkong.

There is a series of lakes in one and the same line
of valley, just separated from one another. The lowest,
which bears the name of Pangkong, has a length of forty
miles, and a width of frgm two to nearly four.* Its height
above the sea is 13,930 feet.

What strikes the eye in coming first in view of this
lake is the lovely colour of its waters ; especially towards
evening is it of the richest deep blue, over the whole
expanse ; at morning time it is of a lighter, but a very
brilliant colour. Close to the shore, indeed, the water k
80 limpid that the bottom can be seen far dotm and is
colourless ; but here too, if it is at all disturbed by the
wind, at the rolling over of the waves before breaking^ a
beautiful sapphire tint is seen in it. In the eastern part^
on both sides, high mountains bound the lake, whose bold
spurs jut out in succession and, at last meeting, doee in
the view. These hills, like all those we have so long been

* The upper part of P&ngkong, and the kkaa abofe it, sro In Hie

CbiDese territory.

312 THE HIGH VALLEYS OF LADAKH.

m

amongst, are bare, showing nought but rock and loose
stones; they are of shades of brown and yellow, only in
the far distance is this earthy look modified by the tone
which the atmosphere gives. It is but this absence of
vegetation, this want of the yaried hues which are one
great charm of the best scepery, that preyents Pangkong
from being ranked for beauty with Lucerne or Eillamey.
Assuredly for grandeur of aspect, for combination of fine-
formed moxmtains with the stretch of waters^ and for the
colour of the clear blue sky contrasting with the moun-
tains, neither surpasses it ; and indeed, under some aspects,
it is difficult to persuade oneself that it is not as beautiful
as can be.

The western part of the lake has, on its north-east side,
hills like those on which we have been looking. We see
long projecting spurs, sharp-edged, with sloping sides in
places broken with rocky prominences ; at some times of
the day the sun, glaring on them, is reflected from the
stone surfaces in such a way as to giye a peculiar shiny,
almost metallic, look. These spurs enclose regular slopes
of alluyial deposit — confined fans of gravel. Opposite, to
the west, there is a great ridge a little retired from the
shore, a great ridge rising to bold rocky and snowy peaks,
with snowy beds on the higher slopes and small glaciers
in the hollows, the lower part a mass of stony debris.

The water of the lake is salt, with a slightly bitter
taste. I had counted it, reckoning by the taste, to be
something less than half as salt as sea-water, and this
estimate is nearly verified by an analysis of it by Dr.
Frankland, given in Dr. Henderson's book ^Lahore to
Yarkand,' by which close on 1'3 per cent, of salts is

pXsgkonq lake. • 813

shown to exist Id it, nearly half of which is oommon salt,
and the rest mostly sulphates of soda and magnesia, and
chloride of potassium. This sample of water vas taken
from the western end ; as one goes eastward it becomes
more fresh ; the water of the far end is, I believe, drink-
able. This saltness denotes that the lake is withoot a
present ontlet for its waters.

Here and there at the edge of the lake, particularly in
shallow places, there is a little T^etation. A, Bat, sea-
weed-like plant, in form like narrow tape, grows appa-
rently attached to the sand, that is with the end or root
of it an inch or two deep in the sand ; one sees small
accumulations of this thrown np in company with shalla
of lymnea and plunorbis. The lake, I am told, is froien
over for three months in winter, and can then be traTcised.
At places along the beach, a little above the level of the
water, there are tee^raargin marks, that is lines which
denote the position of the frosen edge of the lake. 'Shsma
have been described fully by Ifajor Gtodwin-Aosten. I
did not see such large examples of the effect of frost as
he did, but 1 saw, as it were, turned furrows of the shoia
deposits lyiug parallel to the water's edge. These were
from six inches to a foot high, and of two fonns ; ftrat;
elongated mounds of loose earth or stones; secondly,
where a layer of some cohesion had been bodily lifted or
tilted up. I take these to be due to the expansioa
laterally of the ice on its formation over the soz&ce dt
the lake.

Let me now say a few words about the manner in
which this country near Pftngkong is inhabiled. Along
its western shore are small villages, whose inhabitants

314 THE BIGR VALLEYS OF LADAKH,

cultivate the few crops, such as naked barley and peas, that
will grow at this height of 14,000 feet. From Takknng,
going north-westward, the inhabited places met with are
Karkfe, with three houses; Mirak, a fair village; Man,
with six houses ; Spanmiky with one or two houses ; and
Lukung, two or three miles from the north-west comer,
with perhaps five houses. On the northern shore of the
two long lakes are no houses ; but the tent-dwellers,
chiefly those who belong to the Chinese territory, fre-
quent certain spots in small numbers. Tdnktse^ some
miles from the lake, is a larger village than any of these.
There is an open space at the junction of valleys ; from
out of the space rises a long, isolated, steep-faced rock,
crowned with the ruined walls of a fort and monastery.
Until the Dogras came to Ladakh, the villagers' houses
also were built on the rock ; but when the place was
restored from the ruin that the wars had brought upon
it, they were rebuilt on the plain.

Changchenmo is the name of a long valley, tributary to
the Shayok, which extends nearly east and west for more
than seventy miles as the crow flies. The height of its
junction with that river must be about 12,000 feet; at
the middle of its length it is 15,000 feet high, and from
there it rises gradually to a Pass, which makes the boun-
dary of the Rudokh district.

Between Lukung, or Pangkong, and Changchenmo, a
Pass of over 18,000 feet was crossed. Then the valley
stretched straight east and west for far, the bottom of it a
stony tract, with the river flowing through it in many
channels.

Below this spot, where we first reach it (called both

CHASGCHENMO VALLEY. 315

Pamzal and Tsolti), I have not followed the Ch&ngchenmo
Valley. I believe it in that part to be a rapid stream
flowing between narrowing rocky mountains. Above, the
valley is partly occupied by the wide gravelly river-bed
and partly by alluvial terraces, all stony and bare. The
hills that bound this vary much in height and steepness ;
some are smooth-sided and comparatively low, others both
lofty and steep. A branch from the main valley leads to
the north, up to the plateaus that will be described in the
next chapter ; it contains a stream of as great volume as
the other.

The places where the three requisites ton travellers in
these regions occur together, namely, water, grass, and
fuel, are found several miles apart. One is P&mz&I,
already mentioned; here is some pasture, and, dose by,
a great supply of fuel in the bushy growth of myrioaria
(umbii) and of tamarisk. on the alluvium. Then there ii
a stretch of over twelve miles before any more vegetation
is met with. Then at Eyam, where some hot springB
come out, there is a spread of grass extending some way
up the valley, and there is brushwood also, and fiuiher
up, to the very head, there is grass to be found in plaoei»
Again, at Gogra, in the side valley, there is fuel and a
little pasture. Thus scattered and scant ii the vege*
tation; excepting these far-between patches, the whole
surface is a waste of rock or ston& Still the vegetatiosiy
scarce though it be, is enough to help on the traveller,
and even to support the following of one or two families.
of tent-dwellers who pass a portion of the year in Ch&ng-
chenmo.

316 THE PLATEAUS.

CHAPTER XX.

THE PLATEAUS.

Though Bupshn, taken as a whole, may be called a table-
land, its yalleys being 15,000 and its mountains 2O9OOO
feet above the sea, yet the valleys themselves I have pre-
ferred to call ** high-level valleys," rather than plateaus,
thinking the former phrase more likely to convey to the
mind a true notion of their form. Now, however, we come
to certain tracts to which the words " plateau " and ** table-
land " may fairly be applied. They are not, indeed, of
that complete table form which consists in a mass of high
land descending at once on all sides ; here, as in every
case I have met with in the Himalayas, the lofty flat is
surrounded by yet loftier mountains, the plateau is edged
by ranges, or by a ring, of mountains. Still, in the cases
we are coming to, as contrasted with Bupshu, the width of
the flat is very great, the height of the bounding moun-
tains bears to it a much smaller ratio.

Between the country which drains into the Shayok and
that whose streams flow into the Karakash or into other
rivers of Eastern Turkistan, is an elevated mass of ground —
plains surrounded and crossed by rocky ridges — whence
water finds no outlet, but dries up on the plains them-
selves. The level of these elevated plains or plateaus is
16,000 and 17,000 feet; the area of the isolated drainage-
basin (as near as can be estimated from the explorations

DIFFICULTY OF TRAVELLING, 817

hitherto made) is no less than 7,000 square miles, the
space being 100 miles long from north to sonth, with an
average width from east to west of 70 miles.

Our knowledge of this tract is but scant, and of a
portion of it only conjectural. It is truly a part, ^ where
mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been."

In the regions through which the reader has hitherto
followed me — in the high-level valleys, among the bare.
mountains, of Bupehu — ^no great difficulty in providing
supplies and means of carriage presents itself to the
traveller. The inhabitants of Bupahu, though few, are
enough in number to attend to the vrants of those who
pass through their ground, and their cattle do all that is
wanted for the carrying of baggage. Bare as that country
is when looked at as a whole, yet, with very few excep-
tions, there are to be found, at distances which are pnM)-
ticable for a day's march, water, some amount of pasture
for the baggage animals, and fuel, either fune or }mrk$^
or sometimes (as at one or two of the halting-pIaoeB in the
Indus Valley) the dung of the kyang, or wild ass. But
now, in going beyond the basin of the Indus, especially in
traversing the high plains with their enclosed drainage-
area, one is put to straits to provide carriage for the necee-
saries of one's camp, and to procure food for the beatts of
burden themselves. For at some stages fuel is wanting,
at others grass, at others water even. Hence qwdal ar-
rangements are necessary to accomplish the journey ; and
even with these some loss of baggage animals may be
expected.

Tanktse is the place whence a start should be made ; it
is the last large village, and contains a Chnremment store-

318 THE PLATEAUS.

house, and is the head-quarters of a kdrddr^ or manager,
under the Governor of Ladakh. The smaller one's camp,
the lighter the baggage, the more likely is one to get
comfortably through the journey. With half-a-dozen men
of my own, and an equal number of people from the
Tanktse and Pangkong region, we took for our luggage
and supplies eleven yaks and five ponies, and brought
back, after a month's marching, six yaks and four ponies.
This and other experience shows that ponies are &r better
for the work than yaks ; for ponies can carry, besides a
light load of baggage for their master, barley for them-
selves, which yaks, not being used to eating it, will not be
able to live on ; ponies also do the day's march quicker
than the yak, and therefore have so much the more time
to graze on the scanty, thin pasture that here and there is
found. My own journey was the more trying for the
animals in that, after passing through the most desert
part to where the valleys begin to decline to Turkistan
and to become less bare of vegetation, they had to return
over the same desert, without recruiting themselves in the
lower pastures.

From Tanktse or Pangkong, the road leads first to the
Changchenmo Valley. This it leaves by the ravine in
which is situated Gogra, which is the last place where
water, grass, and fuel are all to be found in plenty. I
shall not trouble the reader to follow me through each
day's march as I made it, but shall rather try to give him
an idea of the character of the country such as I myself
derived from observing it in the outward and homeward
journeys.

The southern boundary and watershed of the high

LINGZHITIIANG. 319

plateaus is a line of rounded hill, of a height of 19,500
to 20,000 feet. The Passes oyer it are not cut deep;
the one that we crossed, as I found by means of the
Boiling Point thermometer, which gave 178*9° as the
temperature of boiling water, was 19,500 feet, this being
but a hundred or two feet below the general level of the
ridge ; one or two other Passes are somewhat lower. Even
at that high level the Pass was free from snow; there
were some snow-beds near, but these were not permanent
ones. The difference in the character of the form of the
ground on the two sides of the Pass was very striking. On
the north side there were low hills of romided £[>rm, down-
like ; to the south the summits were no higher than these,
and the rocks were the same, but, the ground being eit
into deeply by steep ravines, it had the mggedneas, and
the degree of elevation above the immediate valleys,
which give the more usual mountainous character.

Over the watershed, for some miles to the north, extend
these hills, rounded at top, and gently sloping to the val-
leys, not deep, which lead away northwards. On rising to
the summit of the last low ridge, we sudd^y acquire a
wide view over an immense plain, whioh begins a few
hundred feet below us, and extends, without a breaks in
front, from south to north, for sixteen or moie miles^ and
from right to left for a distance that most be fifty or sixty
miles. This plain has of late years been oalled by the
Ladakhts LingzhWiang^ and the name has been adopted
by other travellers, and may well be continiied. It is the
southern division of the plateaus whidi lie between the
ridge north of Gh&ngchenmo (the watershed we have just
been looking at) and the Euenlun Mountains. For the

320 TEE PLATEAUS.

northern dinsion, \v'hich we shall come to later, separated
from thisby ridges of hill (which I call the '^ Lokzhnng
Mountains "), I propose the name " Kuenlvm Plains^
These reach to the very foot of the Euenlun Range ; thej
consist not of one wide open plain, but of a plain a good
deal diyidedy though not absolutely separated, into tracts'
by long branch ridges. These three, Lingzhithang, the
Lokzhung Mountains, and the Euenlun Plains, we will
now successively examine.

The lateral dimensions of Lingzhithang were giyen
above. Its elevation is 17,300 feet on the southern side,
and 17,100 feet on the northern. There is a very gradual
slope from south to north, one imperceptible to the eye,
but marked by the course of the streams. The plain,
indeed, is wonderfully even. In character it is bare and
earthy ; in colour it is brown and white in alternate spaces,
according as the whitish clay which is the foundation soil
of the whole is exposed on the surface or is strewn over or
covered with stones. It is indeed ** a weary waste, ex-
panding to the skies.*'

If, from upon this plain, we survey the mountains
around, we see that on the south, the side we have come
from, it is bounded by low-sloping hills. On the west
rise bolder hills and even snowy peaks; in these there
is a gap, to follow which would lead one down to the
river Shayok. All along the north of the plain is the
range of the Lokzhung Mountains, whose direction is
west-north-west and east-south-east; this begins on the
west with two peaks between 20,000 and 21,000 feet»
and continues at from 18,000 to 19,000 feet, a range
of irregular hills, steep, rocky, and peaked. To the east-

MTSAOE. 321

soutli-east the pltiin at first seems boundless, bat again,
from aome points, summits of mountains become visible,
whicb probably belong to ao enclosiug ridge.

The climate of this high plain ia one of almost daily
extremes. The sun may rise in a dear sky, and, as it
climbs, warm the ground with a speed proportioned to
the thinness of the air that the rays have to pass through,
increasing its warmth till two or three honrs past noon ;
the air being still, the lowermost layer of it becomes
somewhat raised in temperature, but the traveller feels
chiefly the double effect of the direct rays and the radia-
tion from below, and he labours over the desert plain
oppressed by the heat. When the sun has declined but
half-way to the horizon, there springs up a wind from
the south-weat or west-south-west, a keen and searching
wind, that quickly makes one suffer from cold more than
before one did from the heat. So it continues till night-
fall, then gradually the wind dies away; in the still
night the ground loses its heat, and a severe hwt occarii
by morning. On the 26th August 12°, and on the
11th September 10° Fahr. were the temperatures recorded
by my minimum thermometer. This, I think, is the
usual course in summer time, but, exceptionally, oloud,
or a storm of wind, comes on that tends to lower the
day and perhaps to raise the night temperature.

This wide plain, dry and bare, and exposed at noonday
to rnys of the sun untempered by thick air, is well calcu-
likti^d to produce mirage, which depends on the differing
tcmpFTaturcB (and therefore dififering densities) of dif-
ferent horizontal layers of air. The first time I croeaed
it, a striking and somewhat pulling mirage prevailed.

322 THE PLATEAUS,

Eastwards the plain seemed to end in a boundless ocean,
in which were strange-shaped islands, some bearing
masses of snow ; the inverted image of them was reflected
from below, and a repetition of the double image beneath
that. As one stoops low to the ground the ocean seems
to ripple to but a hundred yards from one; sometimes
the appearance of water was very distinct to us as we
were seated, but disappeared on our rising. From other
points the mirage made the plain look like a beautiful
lake with steep banks, backed by high snowy mountains.

The area of the plain itself and of the inner slope of
the surrounding mountains makes an isolated basin of
drainage. In the western part the waters flow towards
a temporary lake, some very probably drying up on the
way to it ; in the eastern part they go to the larger lake
marked on the map, which has, I believe, been viewed
from a distance by some member of the Great Trigono-
metrical Survey. The isolation of the basin was the
last considerable physical change that occurred; that
a lake, whether of enclosed drainage or communicating
with the sea, existed for a great length of time, is proved
by the composition of the ground; the whole soil that
covers the flat has been deposited in a lake.

The Lokzhung Mountains are a complex range of moun-
tains running in a west-north-west and east-south*east
direction from the western to the eastern bounding-ridge
of the Plateaus. Its length is sixty miles, its width from
fifteen to twenty miles. It is a region of rocky hills with
flat dry stony valleys between them. It is not one range
with branching spurs, but it may be spoken of as a tract
occupied by parallel hill-ranges (running from west-north-

LOKZHUNQ MOUNTAINS.

323

west to east-south-east) of various outline, according to the
kind of rock each is composed of; these ranges are broken
or cut through by valleys which lead from the southern-
most edf^e of the hill-tract towards the north-east ; the
breaks in the different ranges are not opposite to each
other but are in echelon, so that each valley zigzags, now
flowing south-east between two ranges, now breaking
through one to the north-east, again turning south-east,
and ultimately leading out to the Euenlun Plains.

I have put in a sketch of one of the widest of the stony
valleys among the Lokzhung Mountains ; it leads up to
tlie western range, in which is a conspicuous peak of
21,000 feet, a peak too steep to bear snow, except a little
in the saddle-like hollow.

A WIDE TALLET IN THB LOKZHUNG BANGS.

1 said that the different ridges vary in character ac-
cording to the rock they are composed of. There is an
older encrinitic limestone, dark grey in colour, which
usually is dipping high; this makes hills not the most
rugged. Ferruginous sandstone, and above that a lime-
stone that contains hippurites, lie unconformably on the

324 THE PL A TEA US.

older limestone; these sometimes make isolated hills of
various forms, sometimes, with a high dip of the strata,
make a rugged serrated ridge. Some portion of this
newer formation gives, in the weathering, a reddish-brown
surface ; other portions, of a light-coloured limestone or
crystalline marble, make conspicuous white rocks.

The path traverses this range for two days' march, in
and out among the mountains. The road does not follow
one valley, but passes from one to another by crossing low
necks. More than one of these necks which I crossed
were accumulations of rounded material, coarse shingle
that perhaps was the beach of the ancient lake that once
covered the plains.

The Kuenlun Plains is the name I give to that part of
these uplands which lies between the Lokzhung and the
Euenlun Mountains.

The level of the Plains is 16,000 feet above the sea
that is 1000 feet below Lingzhithang. The variations of
level are greater than any we met with there ; fix)m one
upper plateau there is a fall of sixty feet to a lower water-
course plain, and numerous small ravines, cutting through
nearly to that depth, make very irregular ground. Partly
from these ups and downs and partly from the yielding
character of the dry loamy earth (which certainly in-
creased the labour of walking by one-half), we found the
way very laborious ; for here also, one must recollect, any
increased exertion immediately makes the rarity of the
air to be felt. The upper plateau is in parts covered with
fragments of a brown calcareous cake, an inch or less in
thickness — biscuit would be the more descriptive word.
At the lower levels there are shallow saline lakes here and

KUENLUN PLAINS AND MOUNTAINS. 325

there. From the wide flats many ramifications extend ; a
branch runs up between spurs to the Euenlun^ with a
width of some five miles ; this again branches to the west
and opens out into the most saline portion of all, by
Patsalung.

At the head of these branches are the slopes of the
Kuenlun Mountains. The foremost ridge of the Euenlnn
is a bold dark line some 4000 feet above the plain; behind
it is the lofty snowy range that reaches to dose on 22,000
feet On the southern face of the highest ridge the
easternmost branch of the E&rakish Biver has its soniee,
a river tliat flows into Turkist&n ; but the drainage of the
Plains does not communicate with that riyer. The
Kuenlun Mountains make a oontinaons ridge, with some
higher peaks covered with permanent consolidated snow*
beds ; these tower 6000 or 7000 feet above the valley of
the Earakash ; just north of the high peak at the oMner,
a glacier, pure white, comes down in a hollow to a level
some 3000 feet lower than that of the ridge.

We have now considered these uplands in their separate
divisions of the two plains and the dividing monntainsL
There are yet a few more general observations to be made.

In the description hitherto, little has been spoken of bat
earth and stones and rocks ; but in this I have been guilty
of hardly any omission, so few are the traces of either
animal or vegetable life. Yegetation eiistB bat here and
there ; generally every ten or fifteen milee is to be found
some hurUe^ or Eurotia, the plant that serres for foel;
though at one halting-place moss is obtained in its stead,
and at another neither hwrUe nor moss can be got Ftsstoie
is still rarer. On leaving the last halting-plaoe in the

326 THE PLATEAUS.

ChongluDg branch of the Changchenmo Valley we had to
pass over sixty or seventy miles before reaching any
grass ; the first find was at Lokzhung, a halting-place in
the middle of the mountains of the same name. On the
Euenlun Plains grass is equally scarce, and it is only
when one gets well into the Eastern Earakash Valley that
this cause of difiSculty in keeping one's baggage animalg
alive disappears.

Of wild animals, one would think from the foot-prints
that great numbers must live in the plains and the sur-
rounding mountains ; but one sees few, and on reflection
it appears that the many foot-prints are the work of a
comparatively small number of individuals, for in this
country a mark made may stay unobliterated for years.
I saw kyang, the wild ass, but only singly, at Thaldat^
which is a watering place of his ; a track had been made
straight to it for two miles, beaten and cleared of stones
by continual passage. Hare also are now and then to be
seen, and foot-prints of antelope were observed at yarions
places on the plains. Beyond, on the Eastern Karakash,
kyang, and antelope, and hare were more plentiful. A
beast I had not before seen was the wild yak ; him I met
among the Lokzhung Mountains, a solitary boll, aa
animal in form exactly like the domesticated yak, but
of larger bulk; from his sides hung long hair, but his
back was comparatively bare. At first, on seeing us, he
went away with a short quick trot, but he afterwards
broke into a heavy lumbering gallop. It has been
doubted whether the domestic yak comes from this wild
one, or whether the wild yak may not have sprung from
some that have escaped from the camps of travellerSi for

ICE'BEDB. 827

every now and then these beasts of burden are oyeroome,
and, unable to carry their loads, are relinquished ; these
may, perhaps, recover, and, finding subsistence on some
scant pasture, live and reproduce their kind in a wild
state.

There is one other phenomenon that desenres a mo-
ment's attention before we leave this interesting ground.
There are at least two instances of ieeiedB^ or^ as some
haye called them, anouhbeds^ occurring in the plains. I
prefer the former name, as being more truly descriptiye,
although at first sight they look just like beds of snow.
Colonel H. Strachey described two or three of these in
Bupshu and Pangkong, but gaye no explanation of their
origin. Mr. Johnson mentioned the one at Thaldat^ which
was the first I ever saw. On the plain^a mile or two tnm.
the nearest hill, a space about a mile long and a quarter
of a mile wide is occupied by the ice-bed ; it lies in the
bed of a stream, with the water flowing beneath part of it.
The greatest thickness that I saw was four feet ; some of
it was like nevSy and some was more icy. A similar bed
which I saw in Bupshu (one of those noticed by Ookmel
Strachey), I find described in my notes as being made in
great part of layers, from a quarter inch to one and a half
inch thick, of prismatic ice, the prismatio orystali beings
of course, at right angles to the sorfiMse of the layen;
there, too, was some that is described as like mmL At
other parts, again, the length of the prisms (and thaie-
fore the thickness of one layer of ice) was as moeh as
eight inches.

I think that these ice-beds are the unmelted ioe of tiie
streams, formed especially in springy when the sucoessiya

i

328 THE PLATEAUS.

rising levels of the water that flowed from the melting
snows would make layer after layer of ice, as the still
severe cold at that time froze the surface at nighty until a
thickness had accumulated too great to be made to dis*
appear by one summer's sun, and so the bed had become
permanent. The limit to its vertical increase would be
the impossibility of the water reaching to a higher and
higher level beyond some certain height; only as it
wasted away, as in summer it must waste, from the sun
melting its upper and the stream its lower surface, would^
when the mass of ice settled down, additions again be
made to it from above in the same way as before. It
may not unlikely happen that snow fallen on the surfieu^
sometimes becomes enclosed and consolidated by the over-
flowing water.

I have now taken the reader through every district of
these territories. He will be able to judge, from the
facts laid before him, to what degree and in what sense
they constitute a Barrier for India on this its Northern
Frontier. Let us sum up these facts in brief.

The country is a great mountain mass, into which
valleys have been cut, of such a character and in such
directions, that, to cross from the northern countries —
Badakbshan and Eastern Turkistau — into India, one must
pass from valley to valley over the intervening ridges, by
Passes which always take long in the traversing, and are
pretty sure to be impassable for some months in the year.

In the eastern parts, the valleys lie less deep in the
mountains, and the great plateau extends, giving a level
road for a length of several days* march; but these

THE BARRIER OF INDIA. 329

advantages are counterbalanced by the aridity and desert
character of the land, where fuel and pasture, for a small
camp even, can hardly be found. On the west, where
the valleys lead down into warmer air, one has to rise to
greater heights in passing from one valley to another,
while the steepness of the mountain sides gives to the
roads along them a character of extreme roughnes&

With one exception all this mountain country is thinly
peopled and little cultivated. Stretches of snow-field,
wastes of stones, or else hill-sides that bear forest un-
tenanted by man, these occupy the chief space; that
which is cultivated makes a very small portion of the
whola The one exception in Kashmir, which, set in the
midst of the mountains, exhibits a fertile expanse, inha-
bited by an industrious people.

The roads through these territories by which a bold
invader might dream of attempting to reach India are
three.

The easternmost would bring him across the high
plateaus, over ground where a horse has little difficulty,
and where even the camel of Turkist&n (of the hardy two-
humped breed) might find his way. But this way would
be over that waste and desert ground which has lately
been described, where neither inhabitants to aid, nor cul-
tivation for supplies, nor yet pasture for the support of
the cattle, would meet the eye. And after this wide tract
was passed, there would remain many a day's march in the
mountainous districts of Kulu and Lahol, in the British
territory, which, if less barren, are steeper and more
confined.

The middle road would be by the Earakoram Pass to

330 THE PLATEAUS.

Leh, and thence to Kashmir. Here the ridges to cross are
numerous, the roads roughs and at scores of places the
passage is difiScuIt and narrow. Line after line, either of
mountain or of river, could be defended. A handful of
men well posted could hold many in check ; and here a
few weeks* check would probably mean staryation for the
invader.

The third, the western road, by Gilgit, is one which
could be reached by the Passes (now held by tribes inde-
pendent of us) over the Mustagh Bange, into Hunza,
Nagar, and Yasin. From the Gilgit territory to Kashmir
we have in a preceding chapter traced the route nearly stage
by stage. We have seen that here also defensible positions
could be chosen, but that there is often a possibility
of their being turned by an adventurous enemy who should
gain the country-people to his side. But along this road
also the path is rough ; steep rises, stony tracts, slippery
descents make it, for beasts of burden, even worse than the
last. Hardy hill ponies may carry a rider who can dis-
mount at the dangerous spots, but they often succumb
under the dead weight of a load.

Kashmir, when reached, could afford forage and supplies
for a large force ; but a large force could yet more easily
be poured in from the other side by the power who holds
the Panjab, and unless the invader could advance to, and
command immediate victory in, the Plains, his position in
Kashmir would soon become precarious. The Passes he
came by would close behind him; snow would be his
enemy, to cut off his retreat, while in the early spring his
opponent might, over the less lofty mountains, advance
from the Panjab before aid could arrive from the north.

CONCLUSION. 881

Hence it seems to me that an invasion of India itself
through these mountains would be one of the wildest of
undertakings. A small and lightly equipped force, if well
armed, might indeed find their way far throngb the hills,
and overcome the troops of the Maharaja if they remain in
their present state. But such victories as would bring the
invader as far as Kashmir, if he did not quickly give up
the fruits of them and retire, would cause his destruction.
Our Northern Bairier is one through which but two or
three passages lead ; and the gates that guard them, if
opened by a stranger, may close behind him, while the
door in front might prove too strong to be foroed.

[hamx.

J
/

/

INDEX.

AcACIA^ 7, 15.
AchinkthaDg, 244.
Akhnftr, 99.
ATitelopD, Tiliotun, S09
Amiida t-laoi*". 812.
AsB, wild, 309.
Aalor, ISl.
wJley, 147.

IUbok, templet of, 35.
OaiUl. 122.
llalti people, 220.
BdltieUn, 199.
Ililtoro gUoier, 214.
Bonier ot Indik, 328.
Kaamt Puichml, 91.
BtUba, 212.
IUaho,203.
Boaoli, 32.
Baial cute, 132.
Bawonjt, 154.
Baigo, 247.
Bern caate, 294.
Bemier, 100.
BhadanrUi, 74.
Hbutiil,SS.
Blokpft, 176.
Ilnhnuuu, 21.

Urilda, 214.
lluddhut Dirdi, 174.
Buddhirti, boondMT o^ SI, a

Cum ftmangtha Dti^ 170

Muoog the DogTl*, 21.

low, S8, 18^ 171^ 8M,

ChamlM. igon of, tTO.
CUUnpt noa, 293, 198, SOff.
ChuK,S92.
CUUgohcmtH), ail.

Ciiibhilt noe, 80.
ChQU poopta, 148.
Ohtntb rivar, 7Bl
OUnukto cf A^, 117.

of UilKiL 1,W.

ofKuohmlr, IS.

of Mlddl.- Mountain*, 70.

of Outer Hill., 13.

ofBBpriii^»7.

c€ZbMktr.lSI.

Cnipo of Enitliailr, 113,

of Lmldkh, 258.

— of Middle UounbiiiU. It,

afOiiteHiIli,Ift

D.
DtH,«S.
IMhk^IU.

IWbLtH, 47, .St.
DilrJ face, H(l, IBJ.

DwMlutlnlts, 8S,97.

Deoiai, 216.

Dhiy&n Singh, 41.

Div&IS, 5S.

DogTi race, 20.

Don,S09.

DrAa Paaa, 12S, 277.

TBlley, 278,

D&gBr, HMne o^ 38.
DOm caste, 26, 170.
DAUB, 12.

Fisa, allnvial, 240.
Fir, «il»er, 72, 89.

, Bpraoe, 72, 89, 2<tt.

FroDtier of Oilgit, 163.

Qadd! tribe, 77.

Oakkai tribe, 30.

QtiHi, 162.

Oiukon, 212.

Oaur BiLhtDai), 180, 181.

Oilgit, 136.

liirtory, 180.

, route to, 144.

Glacier at ArandO, 212.

ofBflll;oro,2H.

from Nangft Par bat, 149.

by Soniimarg, ^l.

OlaPifrH, okl. 121. 2I>4. 235, 292.
Oold-wiisliiiiK, 150. 214.
Quiab Singh, Maharaja, 41.

arquires Kiishmir, 4C.

, character of, 43.

, death of. 47.

Guhnarg, 115.
Gnrez, 146.

H.
HlNji caste, 130.
Bare, Tibetan, 309.
HatCl Paa», 153.
Haj ward, Lieut, 195.
Himii Shulipt, 246,

I HindCU, boandaij of, 20.
I Boli, S5.

I Hoahijfira, Geueial, 190.
I Hunt, a. 58.

HiiUEa,IC5.

robben. 215.

1.

ICB-BKM. S27.
loe-margin marks, SIS.
ImiQ-nl-Hnlk, 182, 192.
iDdoB at Bawanjt, 154.
Indna valle]', higher, 806.
Uk Bagdnr. Baja, 164.

3 AT caste, 30.

Jhelam river, ia EaiihiiiiT, 111, 1S5

TaUey, below UtuararftUd, 12

; , Court of, 40.

K2,2I4.
I ElgftoS, 271.
j Kalitb&r, 98.
' EftDgr!, 127.

KarlJ Th»r. 12.
I Karewas.111.

Eargil, 283.
' Kaalimlr, IW.

, ceMion of, 46.

.climate of, 112.

' , march to, 90.

I , people of, 121.

'. , view of, 107.

, Tillages of, 126.

Kashmiri colonies, 33, 7.'i. 176.
I KatoiU«,204.
I Khalsl, 245.

Khamba tribe, 256.

KhardoDg Pass, 28$.

Kharttksho, 241.

fer, 146.

INDEX.

336

KiBhtw&r, 80.

history, 82.

Kremin caste, 171.
Kuenlan mountainB, 825.

plains, 324.

Kyam, 315.
Kyang, 309.

L.

LadAkh, conquest of^ 45.
Lad&khi race, 251.
Leh, 249.

Lingzhithang, 319.
Lokzhung mountains, 322.
Lol&b. 116.
Lori. 56.

M.

MXn Sab, 37.

M&nt, 2G9.

Marmot, 217.

Marriage, a royal, 61.

Mathrll Dfts, 182.

Megh caste, 28.

Mi&ns, 25.

Middle Mountain region, 69.

, inhabitants of, 76.

Mir Wall, 182, 194, 197.
Mirpftr, 38.

Mughal Emperors' route, 100.
Muhammadans, boundary of, 20,
31, 220.

, sects of, 173, 224.

Mulk Im&n, 182, 189, 194.

N.
Nagab, 165.
Nuiig& Parbat, 117, 149.
Nasim garden, 143.
NathO Sh&h, Colonel, 182.
Naubug, 117.
Nauroz, 53.
Nautcb, 56.
Nish&t garden, 142.
Nubr&, 290.

0.
Oak, 78.
Outer Hills, 1.
^ inhabitants of; 18.

P.
Pai}A]c,285.
PiUlar,85.
Pahftrt noe, 76.
Ptodito of Kashmir, 128.
Pftng^ng lake, 811.
Piiyab, plain of the, 4.
PanjU Pass, 105.
Piurmandal, 85.
Pine, long-leftf 6d« 16L
Pinna ezoelsa, 72, 808.

Gcnidiana, 152.

Pitak,24&
Pok^226.

■tioks.285.

Polyandry, 268; 298.
Polygamy, 222.
PfiUioh,88.
PuniAl,160.

Baoi, Balil, 220.

, Chimpi. 255, 298, 809.

, Ghibhilt, 80.

^ DArd, 146, 187.

^, Dogift. 20, S4.

, KaahmtH, 124.

, LadAkht, 251.

»Pftbftil,76.

18.

Bahmai, Waitr, 191.
Bl^Jiofft, 99, 102.
impftti,28.

BAmmigai;88.

Bttibtr Singfa, IMmii^ 47.

Bai^ Dot, Bi^ 41.

B«Ott Singh, M«han^ 41.

Barityofthealr,806.

Balui FlMib 104.

336

INDEX.

8.

Salt Lake yalley, 804.
Sar&es, 100.
Saroin Sar, 37.
Shftlam&r garden, 142.
Shawl-weavers, 130.
Shawl-wool goat, 299.
Sher fort, 161.
Shigar, 210.
Shtn caste, 172.
Sind valley, 118.
Sirinagar, 135.
Sk&rdO, 205.
Snow in Kashmir, 114.

at Eishtw&r, 82.

on the Middle Mountains, 71.

in Rupshu, 297, 809.

in Z&nsk&r, 286.

Son&marg, 120.

Sachet Singh, Raja, 33, 41.

Syillkot, 4.

T.

Tanktsi, 314, 317.
Thakar caste, 27, 77, 87.

Thalioha, 177.
Tibetan dimate, 278.
Toglong Pass, 296.

U.

UDAMPdR,31

w.

Walab lake, 116.

Y.

YlK, 318.

, wild, 826.

Tashknn caste, 171.

Z.

ZAm8k1b,283.

, climate of, 286.

^ people of, 287.

Zo, 259.

Zomo, 259.

Zur&war Singh, 45.

u>XDox: PimrniD bt bdwabd 8TAMrOBi>» 55. chabivo CBoat, ^yi.

/i4»»

79*
S OF THK lfAHARA.IA OF

iNi) KASHMIR

80*

'^":^

>(). ( 32 IlileM to 1 iTuii^
■**^-J-^-*4 Statute ¥ilPH.

I

4

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F*

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I

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JoMuar^^ 1877.

LIST OF BOOKS

FDBLIflHXD BT

EDWARD STANFORD, ^

LONDON, 8.W.

AQENT, BY AFPOINTiaENT, FOB THE SALB OF XHB OBDNAHGB AND

GEOLOGICAL SUBYBY PUBLICATIOHS, THE AOHIBALTY

OHABTSy INDU OFFIGB PUBLIOATIOHB^ ETC.

BEinSH MAHUFAOTUBnrO IHDirBTBIES. Edited hr

G. Phillips Bbvan, F.O J9^ fte. A Berifit of Handy Ydtamm, mm,
oontaining three or more fabjeofti by Endnent Wntm. Post 8fO^
cloth, each Sa, 6d,
List of the Sabjeets of each Yolmne^ with tiia Hamei of tiia

Contributors: —

Iron and Steel .. .. W. MATTixn WlLLXAlli^ F.C.S., F.RJiJi

Copper J. A. PHiLLiPa,F.GJ3^F.Oj3. Qfem.lBitCX).

Brass, Tin, and Zinc .. Waltkb Qrahail

Metallic Mining ..

Coal ..
Collieries

Building Stones .. ••
Explosive Compounds..

Pbof. W. WAxamxm SMrniy F^BJS^ J,QSL

(Sohool of Mines).
A. GjLLLETLTjnEdiub. Mus. of SdcBM aad Art).
Pbof. W. WAxaxomm SMTTEy F^BJEL. FXUL

(School of Mines>
Pbof. Hulli F.B.S., F.GiL (Dtaeetor «f GMlofkal

Surrey of InelandX
W. MATnxu WiLUAMM, F.GJB., fJUkS,

The BiBMnroHAM Ttuaam,

Guns, Nails, Locks,'

Wood Screws, Hinges,

BattonSfPins^eedles,

Saddlery, Electroplatej
Pens and Papier-mftchtf G. LiNMET (BlniiingHain)i

The Ute W. C. Aitkbh (Birmi»^btti>

Acids and .Ukalies

Oils and Candles ..
Gas and Lighting

Hosiery and Lace

Carpets

Dyeing and Bleaching

Pbof. CHUBOBy MJLy F.C18. (B. AgrieaL CULOhii^

cetter).
W. MATnxu WnuAM^ FXI&, F.BX8.
B. H. PATmaooi, F jSA (lata MataapoUlaB Oaa

Bderae).

The late W. Fblkim (NoltittEhaiB).
Chbirophbe Dbehbb, PhjKi
T. Sua (Mayfiald Priat Works).

2 BOOKS.

BBITISH KTAFUFACTHBIirO UTDUHTBIEi-ooiUmued.

Wool rnoF. Archer, F.R.S.E. (Director of Edin. Hm. of

Science and Art).
Flax and Linen ., ., W. T. Charley, M.P.

Cotton.. -. Isaac Wattb (Sec. Cotton Supply Anociation).

Silk B. F. Cobb (Sec. Silk Supply Association).

Pottery L. Arnoux (Art Director of Minton's Mann fkctory).

Glat» and Silicates .. Prof. Barff, M.A., F.C.S. (Kensington Catholic

University).
Furniture and Wood-
work J. W. Pollen, M.A. (S. Kensington MuMom).

Paper .. Prof. Archer, F.R.S.K (Director of Edin. Hns. of

Science and Art).
Printing, Bookbinding Joseph Hatton.

Engraving Samuel Davenport (Society of Arts).

Photography .. .. P. Le Neve Foster (Society of Arts)!
Toys G. C. Bartley (S. Kensington Museum).

Tobacco John Dunning.

Hides and Leathcr,Gutta-|

percha, and India-| J. Collins, F.B.S. (Edinburgh).

rubber )

Fibres and Cordage .. P. L. Simmonds, F.R.C.I.

Ship Building ., ,. Capt. Bedford Pim, R.N., M.P.

Telegraphs Robert Sabine, C.E.

Agricultural Machinery Prof. Wrightson (R. Agricul. Coll. Cirencester).

Railways and Tramways D. K. Clark (Mem. Inst. C. E.).

Jewellery G.Wallis (Keeper of Art Collections, S.K. Museum).

Gold Working .. ., Rev. Charles Boutell, M.A.

Watches and Clocks .. F. Britten (British Horological Institute).

Musical Instruments .. £. F. Rimbault, LLJ). (Musical Examiner, Coll. of

Preceptors).
Cutlery F. Calus (Sheffield).

Salt, Preserved Provi-
sions, Bread .. .. J. J. Manley, MJ^..
Sugar Refining .. .. C. Haughton Gill,

Butter and Cheese .. Morgan Evans (late Editor of * Milk Journal ').

Brewing and Distilling T. Pooley, B.Sc., F.CS.

The Industrial Classes]
and Industrial Sta-| G. PniLLD'S Bevan, F.G.S. [/n the Prt$8.

tistics (2 vols.) )

EDWABD STANPOBD, 56, OHABING OBOSS, 8.W.,

BRITISH MAFUFAcnntnra nn)TrBTRiES-«o«»uM<t,

Hvm tht 'Athenxuh,' April UA, 1876.
This aeries of •mil] booki It proffusdlj oadtrtakai Ibr tlia pnrpiiM of
iringing ■< into oat Caciu ths leading fiEktnn* ud th« pnicnt podtlon of (h*
nu^it importHiit Indiutriei of tha kingdom." Ha Ides of pnbliahlag, U tiM

.Dinbar of eauja on Brltlah iBduitrtai ~-thaT ira BOt

all inuDurnctDring — which ahoald be from thi ,

n guarantee for tha comctnea* of tha daacriptiooi giran uhI of

detailed, is certainlf a good ona. A larga nnmbar of • • . -

il BoguaiDtance with thoaa indoitrlal opentioni, which hara, m % tang
aished thia coontrf ; but thej hara nat tha tima,
hapa the induatry, for hunting oat thadataila ol

la tima, or tha opur-
itaila of tham, wtleh

'C probablj scsttared thTODgh DomerDOa booki and joamala. For thi* olaaa
lese booka appear to n* to 1m excoedinglf Well adaptad. W« bara DOW b*fia«
t nil Tolumea, each with as arenga of 187 pig**; thay '™'**'i abon^
eoty-sevea e»a^ by eight«as dmrant anthon, u'

" --*■ - 'y aaiociatod with the labjaata r~' ""

When we itata that. we find a
Smjth, flu)], Areher, Barff, aad Charoh, Dr. Draaaar, aad tlia llaHra. PattatMO,
J. Arthur Phillips, Qalletlf, Amoni, and othar eqaallf wall-kaown aaoMii WO
have eertalDly said eaoogh to Tscommand th«M eaaajrs to tha *tt«ntlos of all
who desire to know something of the Indnstdea of whieh they treat TSaaa
volumes are not intended to take the plaoo of HaDdbooka; ft li not thair
purpose to impart technical Instruction; thof an daa^aad to oonTaj, t» thoaa
who ileaire It, a general kuowledce of the prindplaa and of tha inoM '♦''^'■g
points of Ihe practice of the workshop*. Ilia aabjaela an nflUaBtir *arM I
Mining, QuBrrjing, Meullnrgj, Hctile and TaitUa HaBafcotwaa, Wttimak
and Fumiture, and Chemical Arte areeranntalMDdadlBlkabaakimewpihUBkad.
Ther-' ' --• -'■----" ■ --^ -."-—•. - *-_ -- .1

d,and,Im«<
wtaTfarU)

Ihey are, and there are a few othar polnia wUdi w* shoald adtba tha
or to look carelolly after when new adltioBB aia nqnliad; bat, i> tha
Ae, the impression left after a carafbl OCTinlMttoa af aaoh of tha labjaala

J. IIUSSELL'S ADKIKIBTRATION, Bt EABL ORKT, ISSS,'
and of SUBSEQUENT COLONIAL HIBTOBT. Bv Iba toAk
Hon. Sir C. B. Asdcblht, K-OlLa., ILF.. DM117 Sro, <Mh, Sn

AUEBICA, H0fiTH.-H0TB8 m tha OSOOBAFHY of

XOBTU AUERICA. FHTBIOAL and POLITICAL. Intgodad
■ Tbxt Book tor the Un <rf EiBOWttxt OLjUBi, ai
ooK to the Wall Mi

the Society for Promoting C .

National Sociatw tor PntmoUnf tha adaoatlwi o

Poor. WlthOolatmdniTifaalH^ Oown Src, «latli, U

WHOLBBALB AMB KRAIL BOOK JJTO XA» «HUJ

4 BOOKS.

AMEBIC A, SOTTTH -NOTES on the OEOOBAPHT of SOUTH

AMERICA, PHYSICAL and POLITICAL. Intended to serve aa
a Text Book for the Ubb of Elementary Classes, and as a Haitobook
to the Wall Map prepared under the direction of the Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge, and the National
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Coloured Physical Map. Crown Svo, cloth, Is,

ANDLAU 8 (Baron) GBAMMAE and KET to the OEBHAH

LANGUAGE : Being an easy and complete System for aoaulring
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Yon Andlau, late Director of the German, French, and Classical
College, Clapham Bise. Fourth Edition. Demy 12mo, doth, St. 6d,

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English, for the Use of Schools, Private, and Self Instroction. First
Courtie. Demy 12mo, cloth, 3«. 6d,

OEBMAN BEADING BOOK. Second Gonrse. 12mo, 4s. M.

ANSTIE.-THE COAL EIELDS OP GLOUCESTEBSHIBE

AND SOMEBSETSHIRE, AND THEIR RESOUBCEa By
John Anstie, B.A., F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. Civil Engineers, fto. With
Tables and Sections. Imperial Svo, cloth, 65.

ANTHBOPOLOGICAL NOTES and aVEBIES. For the Use

of Travellers and Residents in Uncivilized Lands. Drawn up by a
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I ABCTIC EXPEDITION. - MANUAL of the NATUSAL

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BAINES.-The GOLD BEGIONS of SOUTH -EASTEBH

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BEAUVOISIN^S (Mariot de) PEENCH VEBBS at a GLANCE.

New Edition, Thirty-third Thousand, enlarged and entirely rewritten.
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10

n

8

n

8

•t

10

n

8

»

10

n

8

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SI

In Littlb Domesday Book.

Essex, price I60.— Norfolk, 23«.— Suffolk, 22«.

Pt-ice of an entire Set {as above), 171, S$,

Domesday Book complete, bound in 2 volumes, price 201.

GEODETICAL TABLES. 1 vol. thin 4to, price 2$.

SDWABD STANPOBD, 66, OHABIKQ OBOSS, &W.,

ORDNANCE SURVEY PUBLICATIONS. 23

JERUSALEM. - ORDNANCE SURVEY of JERUSALEM,

With Noted by Cuj)tain WiLSos, R.E. Pro4luce<l at the Ordnance Sur-
vey Olfice, Southampton, under the superintendence of Major-General
Sir Hen'uy James, R.E., F.R.8., Director.
The Survey ia sold complete for Twelve (iuineas, or in Divisions, aa
follows: —

£ 8. d.
The Plans Mounted, and in a Portfolio . . . . 2 18

Vol. I. Contiiining Captiiin Wilson's Notes on Jeru-
BJiIem, and Illustrative Diagrams .. .. .. 2

Vol. II. Contiiining the Photographs taken in and
about the City . . . . . . , . . . . . 7 14

Total £12 12

The Plans, Diagrams, and Photographs are sold separately. Detailed
List, with Prices, post free for two Penny Stamps.

LENGTH.-COMPARISONS of the STANDARDS of LENGTH

of England, France, Belgium, Prussia, Ruasia, India, Auhtralia, made
at the Ordnance Survey Offlce, Southampton, by Captain A. R. Clabkb,
R.K., F.R S., under the direction of Maior-Genenu Sir Henrt Jambs,
R.E., F.R.S., &e., Cor. Mem. of the Royal Geographical Society of
Berlin, Dire<5tor of the Ordnance Survey. Published by Order
of the StHjretary of State for War. 1 voL 4to, 287 pp. and plates.
Price 15«.

LOUGH FOTLE BA8E.-An ACCOUNT of the MEASUBE-

MENTS of the LOUGH FOYLE BASE. By Captain W. Yollahd,
R.E. 4to, cloth, 20«.

MAGNA CARTA.— Kma John, a.d. 1215. Facsimile of

Magna Carta; Photozinoographed at the Ordnance Survey Office,
Soutliampton. under the superintendence of Captain Parsons, R.E.,
F.R.A.S. Price U. 6d., with the Translation.

MARGINAL LINES.-~On the CONSTRUCTIOH and U8E of

tlie SIX SHEETS of MARGINAL LINES for MAPS of any part
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*^* The Six Sheets of Marginal Lines are published, price 6f.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, TABLES for. Pub-
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DITTO taken at the Stations of the Royal Engineers in the
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METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, taken at the Stations
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24 ORDNANCE 8T7BVEY PUBLICATIONS.

HATIONAL MANUSCRIPTS of ENGLAND. A Series t

PHOTOZINCOGRAPHIC FACSMILKS of some of the most ii
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ment, by BIiijor-Generul Sir Henbt /ames, R.E., F.R 8., Director <
the Ordiiaiioe Survey ; with Translations and Introilactory Notet h
W. Basevi Sanders, Esq., Assistant Keeper of Her Majesty's Record
This series, consisting of Royal Charters and Grants, and the Lettei
of Royal and Eminent or Remarkable Persons, has been seleote
nnder the dir<>otion of the Right Hon. Sir John Romillt, Master <
the Rolls, by Thomas Duffus Habdt, Esq., Deputy Keeper of He
Majesty's Records; and includes some of the most remarkable Orieiiu
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SCOTLAND. — Photozincographio Facsimiles of Nationi

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Parts I. and II. are out of print.

IRELAND. — Photozincop^phic Facsimiles of Natioiui

Manuscripts of Ireland. Part I. 2/. 29.

HETLET ABBEY, FHOTOZINCOGRAFHED VIEWS 01

Sixteen Photographic Views, &c., of Netley Abbey, indudinff illu
tratod Title Page and Plan of the Abbey. Photozinoographed s
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ORDNANCE SITEVET.— Account of the Methods and Pro
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OEDNANCE TEIGONOMETEICAL SUEVET of fhe UNITE]

KINGDOM. In Four Volumes, royal 4to, illustrated with nnmeroii
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complete, and may be had as above, or in separate volumes as under :—

I. THE PRINCIPAL TR I ANGULATION of the UNITEI
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APPENDIX TO DITTO.— Determination of the Poutimia o
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*,* The Volumes of Levelling will be found of great value to al
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EDWABD STANFOBD, 66, CHABINQ 0B088, 8.W.,

ORDNANCE SUBVEY PUBLICATIONS. 25

SINAI.-ORDNANCE SITEVEY of SINAI. This Survey is

published in Three Parts, and sold complete for 22/.

The Parts can also be had separately as follows : —

Part I. DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

— The Origin, Progress, and Results of the Survey, with
twenty pa^^es of Illustrations. In I Volume, imperial folio,
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Part II. MAPS. — This Part consists of Ten Maps and Sections
of the Peninsula of Sinai, Mount Sinai, and Mount Serbdl,
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ONE HUNDRED and ELEVEN ADDITIONAL PHO-

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STEEEOSCOPIC VIEWS, Thirty-six in number, in a

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A Detailed List of the Photographs and List of Mapt gent by post for l\oo

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STONEHENGE, TXTEXISACHAN, CBOKLECHS, and SCULP-
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Stones recently found in Ireland; accompanied by PUtea. By
Major-General Sir Hknbt James, R£^ FJt.8. 1 fol. 4to, olothy
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Photograph of Stonehenge Restored, showing Dnddioal Saeiifloe by
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26

MSUOIBS OF THE OEOLOGICAIi BUKVJSX.

Ptnioirs of t\t dltologital Surbej of i\t

WiwM fUn§boin.

%♦ For Lid of the Principal GetlogicdL Survey Mape^ iee page 53.

MEM0IE8 of the GEOLOGICAL 8XIEVET of the TTSITE

KINGDOM.— Vol. I. Roval 8vo, cloth, 21».
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Vol. II. Part 2, ditto, 21*.
Vol. III. Out of print.

Vol. IV. (The (neology of the London Basiu, Pftrt 1
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BANBITET, &c.— The Geolofjy of the Country ftronnd BAJ
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BOLTON.— The Geology of the Country around BOLTOl
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BEITISH OEGAKIC EEMAIN8.-DECADES 1 to 18, wit

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MoNOOBAPHs: — No. 1. On the Genus Pterygotus: wit

16 folio plates, 4to edition, 10s. ; 8vo edition, 7<.
No. 2. On the Structure of the Belemnitidi
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BXIENLET COALPIELD.-Memoir of the BUBNLEY COAl

FIELD; with Table of FoisUs. 12s.

CHELTENHAM.— The Geology of the Country around CHE]
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D£EBT8HIEE.-The Lower Carhoniferous Bocks of DERB^

8PIIHE ; with an Appendix of the Fossils. 4s.

DEWSBITEY, Ac- The Geology of the Neighbourhood
DEWSBURY, HUDDERSFIELD, and HALIFAX. W.

FOLKESTONE and ETE. — The Geology of the Count

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EDWABD STANFOBD, 66, OHABINQ CB0S8, 8.W.,

I

MEMOIRS OF THE aEOLOGICAIj SURVEY. 27

FITRNESS DISTRICT— The Geology of the Southern part of
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KENDAL, &c. — The Geology of the Neighbourhood of
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LEEDS. — The Geology of the Carboniferous Bocks North and
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LEICESTERSHIRE COALFIEU). — The Geology of the
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LONDON and ENVIRONS — Guide to the Geology of

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MINERAL STATISTICS of the XTNITED KINGDOM, em-
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MEMOntS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SUBVEY.

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BUTLAND, &c.— The Geology of RUTLAND, and Parte
LINCOLN, LEICESTER. NORTHAMPTON, HUNTINGDO:
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SCHOOL of MIKES.— Records of the SCHOOL of MINI
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1851-2. U6d.
Part 2. Out of Print,

Part 3. On the Mines of Wioklow and Wexford. U, 6cf.
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STOCKPORT, &c.— The Geology of the Country aroan
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WEALD (The), Ac— The Geology of the WEALD, and c
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WIGAN.— The Geology of the Country around WIGAN. I9.

WOODSTOCK.— The Geology of the Country around WOOE
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T0RK8HIRE COALFIELD.-Geology of part of the TORE

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BERWICKSHIRE (EAST).-Geology of EASTERN BEB
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EAST LOTHIAN.-Geology of EAST LOTHIAN. 2f .

EDWABD 8TANP0BD, 56, CHABINa CB088, B.W.,

METEOBOLOGICAL OFFICE PUBLICATIONS. 29

lEELAND.— Explanatory Memoirs or " Explanations " are
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LONDONDERRY. -Report on the Geology of the County of
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TRINIDAD -The Geology of TRINIDAD. 12f .

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On the FHTSICAL GEOGRAPHT of fhe Part of fhe

ATLANTIC which lies between 2(P N. and IQP S.,and extends from
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(North).— CURRENTS and SURFACE TEMPERATURE

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METEOROLOGY of the NORTH ATLANTIC. Report to

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WHOLSSALE AND RETAIL BOOK AND XAP «tit.t.wii^

30

METEOBOLOGICAL OFFICE PXJBLICATIOM'S.

ATLAKTIC OGEAK.-OK THE WINDS, &o., of fhe VORI

ATLANTIC, nlong the TRACKS of STFL\MERS from the CHA
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(Sonth).-€HAETS SHOWING the SXIBFACE TEID

RATURE of the SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN in each Month
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CAPE HOEN, &C.-COHTEIBUTIONS to our KNOWLEDC

of the MKTEOROLOCiY of CAPE HORN and the WEST COAl
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COAST or FISHEE7 BAEOMETEE MANITAL.— BOARD

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Office. 8fo, (W.

CTCLOHES in the SOUTHERN INDIAH OCEAH.-NOTI

on the FORM of CYCLONES in the SOUTHERN INDIA
OCEAN, and on Bruno of the Rules given for Avoiding their Centn
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Bcrvatory, Mauritius. Publi^liel hy the Authority of the Metooi
logical Committee. Royal 8vo, &/.

INSTRUCTIONS in the USE OF METEOEOLOGICAL U

STRUMENTS. Conijii1o<l by direction of the Meteorological Cox
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ISOBARIC CURVES.-On the USE of ISOBARIC CURTEI

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Gali'H in January, 18G7, and August, 18U8, &c. With some practia
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(!u])tain IIknry Toynbee, F.R.A.S., titeir Marine SupcriDtenden
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JAPAK.-CONTRIBTJTION to the METEOROLOGY o

JAPAN. By Staff-Commander Thomas H. Tizabd, H.M.S. **Chft;
lender." Publibhtd by the Authority of the Meteorological Committei
With Diagruuis and iPlana. Royal 4to, Paper Coveri If.

LEIPZIG CONFERENCE. - REPORT of the PROCEEDIirGl

of TIIK METKOROLOGICAL conference at LEIPZIG
Protoi'olH and Appendices. Publihhcd by the Authority of th
l^U'tcorological Committee. Royal 8vo, Is.

EDWABD STANFORD, 66, CHABINa OBOSS, aW.,

METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE PUBLICATIONS. 31

MARITIME METEOROLOGY-REPORT of the PROCEED-

IN(JS of tho CONFERENCK OX MARITIME METEOROLOGY

liild in LoiKlon, 1874. Portocols and Appendices. Published by the
Authority of tho Meteorological Committee. Royal 8vo, 2s.

METEOROLOGICAL DATA for SftUAEE 3.-CHARTS of

METEOROLOGICAL DATA for SQUARE 3. Lat. 0^—10° N.,
Lonj<. 20^ — 30- W., and Remarks to accompany tho Monthly Charts.
Showin<^ the Best Routes across the Equator for each Month.
Two vols., cloth, 20s.

aUARTERLY WEATHER REPORT of the METEOROLO-

GICAL OFFICE, with Pressure and Temperature Tables. Gontain-
iii^ the Results ot the Daily Observations made at the seven Obeervatoriea
establislu'd by the Mett'orolo;;ical Committee at Kew, Stonthubst,
Fal^iouth, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Armagh, and Valenctla.

The Plates exhibit the continuous registration of the Observations, and
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sides. Published by Authority of the Meteobological Committee. Boyftl
4to, price 5«. each Part.

The Parts for 1869. 1870, 1871, 1872. 1873. and Parts L and H. of 1874.
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ROITTES for STEAMERS from ADEN to the STRAITS of

SUXDA AND BACK. Translated from a Paper issued by the
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Authority of the Meteobologioal Committee. Royal 8vo, 6d, *

STATION INSTRUCTIONS for METEOROLOOICAL TELE-

(iUAPHY. New Edition, 1875. 8vo, W.

STRONG WINDS. -An INttXriRT into the CONNECTION

l)elWLen STRONG WINDS and BAROMETRICAL DIFFERENCES.
Beinu; a Report pres<mted to tho Committee of the Meteobologioal
Office. By Robert H. Scott, Director of the Office. Royal 8vo, 6d,

VIENNA CONGRESS-REPORT of the PROCEEDINGS of

the METEOROIX)GICAL CONGRESS at VIENNA. Protooote
and Appendices. Published by the Authority of the Meteorological
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— REPORT of the PERMANENT COMMITTEE of the

FIRST INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL CONGRESS
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WEATHER TELEGRAPHY AND STORM WARNINGS -

liKPOliT ON WEATHER TELEGRAPHY and STORM
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H Committee appointed! at the Leipzig Conference. Published by the
Authority of the Meieobolugical Committee. Royal 8?o, paper
cover, Is.

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL BOOK AND KAP SELLSB.

32 PHOTOGRAPHS.

PALESTINE EXPLORATIOK FTIND PHOTOGRAP

PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS of PALESTINE, taken ezprcal]

the Palestine Exploration Fund.

This beautiful series of Oripnal Photographs comprises moat
terestin^ Views of the Cities, Villages, Temples, Synagogues, Chnrc
Ruins, Tombs, Seas, Lakes, Priests, I'ilgrims, Inhabitants, &c., of the ]
Land and Jerusalem. Each Photograph is Mounted on a white Ik
size 13 inches by 11. Selections of the oest Photographs have been n
and can now be supplied at the following prices : —

100 Photographs, to Subscribers, 4Z. ; Non-Subscribers, 51.

50 „ to Subscri1)crB, 45«. ; Non-Subsoriben, 55s.

25 „ to Subscribers, 25s. : Non-Subacribcra, 85s.

A List of the Views gratis on anplicution, or per poet for penny atai
The Restored Moabito Stone (New Photograph).
M. Clermont-Ganneau's Vase of Ik^zi'tha (ditto).
50 New Photographs. By Lieut. Kitchener, R.R, F.B.G.S.
Single Photograpiis, to Subscribers, If. 3d, ; Non-Subaoriben, la. 9^
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Twelve of tho New Photographs, with Letterpreaa. Boimd in d

lettered on side, 1/^ Is.
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PABEEB.-HISTOEICAL PHOTOGEAPHS iUnstratiye

the ARCHAEOLOGY of ROME and ITALY. By Jomr Hi

Pakkeb, C.B., Hon. M.A. Ozon., F.S.A., &c. Royal 4to, clotii.
One Hundred Best Pltotographs, selected by W. S. W. Vauz, Esq. 5i
Ri>Ci*nt Excaviitions in Rome. 100 Photographs. 5^ St.
Walls of the Kings on the Hills of Rome, and similar Walls in other Anc

Ibities of Italy, for Com{)ans«>n. 21 Pliotognphs. 1/. 14«.
Walls and Gates of Rome, of the Time of the £Impire and of the Po

20 Photograpiis. 1/. lOn.
Hibtoriciil Construction of Walls, from the Times of the Kings of Bi

to the Middle Ages, showing Historical T^'pea of each Period.

Photographs. 2/.
Aqueducts, from their Sources to their Mouths. 40 Photographs. 2L
Catacombs, or Cemeteries of Rome ; Construction, and Fieeco F^nti
TaJ:en with the light of Magnesium. 30 Photographs. 22.
Forum Ronianum. 20 Photographs. 17. 10s.
Tho ColotiSi-um. 20 Photographs. 17. 10s.
The Palatine Hill. 30 Photographs. 27.
Sculpture. — Statues. 30 Photographs. 27.

Bas-Reliefs. 80 Photographs. 27.

Sarcophagi of the firat Four Centuries. 20 PhotoRrapha. 17. lOt.
Mosaic PictuR's of the first Nine Centuries. 20 Photographs. 17. lOa
Mosaic Pictures, Centuries XII.-XVH. 20 Pliotographs. 17. 10s.
Fri'hoo Paintings of the firtit Nine Centuries. 20 Photographs. 17. lOi
Fret^co Paintinpf, Centuries XII.-XVl. 20 Photographs. 12. 10s.
Cliun^h and Altar I)ecoiations. Cosmati Work. 30 Photographa. 22
Ponipii. Remains ol' the City. 20 Plioto;:;rapli8. 17.10s.
Complete Set of Photographs (upwards of 3000), 1207.
Sii)<j:li' Photographs, unmountt.><l, Is.

SystiMiiatio Catalogues, acconlin*: to Subjc^cts, Parts I. and II., each, 1^
Cieni-ral Cntalogue of SelecttKl Photographs, Is.

EDWABD STANFOBD, 66, CHABINQ CB088, 8.W.

>fi

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